A ROAD sign obscured by trees is only one of the errors carried out by professional traffic management companies, community groups in part of the North have said.

Organisers of community ev-ents in Teesdale, County Dur-ham, have criticised traffic management companies which are charging large sums of money to carry out road closures at events.

Organisers of Remembrance Day parades, carnival processions and other events that involve using a public road now have to apply for road closure orders, which must be carried out by traffic management companies.

The companies are charging £240 upwards to put up signs for the closures.

At a meeting of the Teesdale Community Network, organised by the 2D volunteer agency, to discuss the problem, representatives of community organisations pointed to a number of errors made by the companies.

Volunteers asked who regulated the management companies or if they were a law unto themselves.

As well as the obscured sign in Middleton-in-Teesdale, the meeting heard of signs that had been installed upside down and also signs advertising road closures which were three miles away from where they should be.

Mike Bettison, from Bowes, who chaired the meeting, said: "I do not think anyone objects to the road closure orders. But it is the cost of traffic management companies and the proportion of that cost. For many groups, it is now likely to be 30 to 40 per cent of their budget."

Middleton-in-Teesdale Carnival treasurer John Cronin said the group's costs for the closures had risen from £87 to £240.

Neville Singleton, of Cockfield, said: "The traffic management companies have been making money out of this and that is what needs to be looked at.

"We have seen evidence of what they have done. We need to be looking to try and get some funding to train someone to carry out the road closures.

"They are making it impossible. These are country roads, we are not closing the M6."

However, county highway engineer Keith Jameson said it would be unlikely for a community volunteer to get the appropriate qualifications because a two-week training course was needed, as well as nine months of continuous training.

It was agreed to look into whether a community volunteer could get a qualification to carry out the closures and to investigate the licensing and regulation of companies.

A representative from a traffic management company will also be invited to the next meeting, in the new year.