AN EXCEPTIONAL set of circumstances triggered problems with Yarm fair this year.

Four times the usual number of travellers descended on the town causing huge difficulties for police and residents.

Other factors such as car-owners not heeding notices to remove vehicles did not help, and neither did the disappearance of police cones which led some people to think town centre zones were available for parking.

This was the conclusion of a de-briefing meeting which spotlighted traffic and safety concerns.

Parish councillors from Yarm and Egglescliffe met police and members of the Showmen's Guild on Tuesday to thrash out what went wrong.

The meeting was held against a backdrop of complaints from Egglescliffe about vehicles parked in streets.

For the first time, the parish was invited to the annual de-brief.

Next year, Egglescliffe will be involved in planning for the October fair, held through the granting of an ancient charter. Agreement has already been reached for improved signs, cones and information, extra parking restrictions and to intercept travellers before Yarm to advise them of traffic requirements.

Egglescliffe vice-chairman Coun Sue Ireland said: "The meeting helped put things in perspective."

It was agreed that the cancellation of Appleby fair because of the foot- and-mouth crisis was a major factor, bringing more travellers to Yarm as they missed out on that popular event.

This made traffic hard to police as the travellers had no overall contact point. Insp Colin White, who was in charge of traffic arrangements, said: "The travelling community has no recognisable hierarchy so we have been unable to talk to them to head off problems. We will try to set up a point of contact to solve this."

He said the problems could not have been foreseen. "We were left with some very unhappy motorists and residents," he said. But he insisted police did not lose control.

"Some residents did not heed requests to remove their vehicles and some were left where travellers park," he said.

Instead of the usual ten horse-drawn carriages, about 40 arrived. This created problems getting vehicles into town after the horses had been taken to a grazing area. Carriages had to be hand-dragged into Yarm.

Insp White said more than 100 cones had gone missing and he appealed for them to be returned. The cost to the police was about £600.

He praised the general law-abiding nature of the fair. Just two arrests were made, and there were few incidents.

"With tens of thousands of people attending, it was a tremendous success and the problems we did have pale into insignificance compared to the bigger picture. "But we will address the issues," he said.