FIREFIGHTERS and ambulance crews have hit out at claims they are failing to use a new £30,000 engineering project, which cuts response times to emergency calls.

A break in the central reservation in St Cuthbert's Way, on Darlington's inner ring road, was created so that fire engines and ambulances could turn right on to the dual carriageway, saving precious seconds on response times.

But motorists have spotted fire and ambulance crews not using the link, instead turning left on to the dual carriageway, going all the way round the nearby Feethams roundabout, and getting stuck in the traffic jam caused by the link's traffic lights.

Last night, firefighters and paramedics denied they were failing to use the link.

A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington Fire Brigade said: "The fire engines are using it. This occasion must have just been a one-off.

"We estimate that response times are better by one minute or more, and not only that, but it saves wear and tear on the engines and their tyres, which were going at quite a speed around the roundabout before.

"On some calls we do a dual approach and we send one appliance to the left and the other to the right of the station if there is heavy traffic, so one appliance is guaranteed to get to the call through the traffic.

"They don't necessarily go out in tandem, so that could have been what happened on this occasion.

"The crews themselves are absolutely delighted with the new link."

A spokeswoman for the North-East ambulance service said: "Crews at Darlington do use the traffic lights but people may have seen ambulances turning round the roundabout instead. This may be because they have had another call as they were pulling out and the ambulance has been diverted."

The cost of the project was shared between Darlington Borough Council, the fire service and the ambulance service, which now has a station on the same site.

Pedestrian safety was also improved by the scheme - the central reservation was widened by a metre and surrounded by a barrier.

The £30,000 project has been dogged by delays.

Work started more than a year ago at the site, but in March cashflow problems were blamed for the hold-up.

Last month, the delay was attributed to the fine tuning of the new traffic light system.