A SPEED trap that was put out of action in an arson attack will be back in place on a notorious North-East road within a month.

Police last night revealed that the mobile Gatso camera will return to the A66 linking Teesside with Darlington over the next few weeks.

The camera's trailer was destroyed in the blaze - possibly started by a driver who had been caught speeding - in April.

Safety campaigners condemned the attack and said lives could have been put at risk because of the vandalism, which is thought to have cost as much as £50,000.

The camera was on the eastbound carriageway of the road, opposite the turn-off for Urlay Nook, when it was targeted twice in the space of three days.

On the first occasion, petrol was poured on the base and it was set alight, but the fire failed to put the device out of action.

Days later, burning tyres were placed around the camera and trailer, and the intense heat wrecked it.

Chris Cole, of the Cleveland Police road policing unit, said: "We don't know whether an explosive device or an accelerant was used, but it was quite an intense fire.

"The new trailer is ready for collection now, so it should be fully operational, hopefully in the next month."

At the time of the arson, it was feared the camera's absence could lead to an increase in accidents on the stretch of road, near Long Newton, known locally as Death Mile.

However, exact figures showing the number of accidents during the time the camera was missing are not yet available.

Mick Bennett, of the Cleveland Safety Camera partnership, said at the time: "Whoever did it has not given any consideration to people's lives.

"The camera was put there to protect people. If they get found guilty at court, they could well get sent to prison."

In the past nine years, there have been 41 incidents on that stretch of the A66, resulting in 83 people being killed or injured.

There have been a number of attacks on cameras in other parts of the country, but it is thought the arson on Death Mile was the first in the North-East.

A camera in Shropshire which was attacked with a power saw in 2003 was set alight in the same month as the A66 fire, and within days of similar attacks in Derbyshire, Somerset and Cambridgeshire. A man was also seen placing a traffic cone over the lens of a camera in roadworks on the outskirts of Hartlepool in April as the campaign to rid the roads of them reached its height.