CAMPAIGNERS pressing for a lorry ban on a busy Newton Aycliffe road have claimed their first victory.

The Kings Drive Residents' Association wants to see a ban on all heavy goods vehicles over seven-and-a-half tonnes using Burn Lane.

Its members say a series of chicanes to slow traffic on the road make it difficult for large vehicles to manoeuvre, putting pedestrians at risk.

A petition calling for a heavy goods vehicles ban, which has been signed by nearly 200 residents, was presented to local county councillor Terry Hogan yesterday.

Coun Hogan, who supports the residents' stand, revealed that an agreement has already been reached with a developer not to use the road.

CTP, which is to develop a new town centre on the former Avenue School site, will ban all construction traffic from using Burn Lane during the work.

Coun Hogan said longer term investigations into the provision of a permanent weight limit have begun, although he warned the process could take months or even years to complete.

Association vice-chairman Ray Fendley welcomed the news, saying: "What we are hoping for is a total lorry ban, excluding buses which are a public service.

"The main worry we have got is the way wagons come down that road.

"I was walking down there with my wife and son when a removal van came down and when it negotiated the chicane, the back two wheels mounted the kerb. If we had not been on the left hand side of the pavement there might have been a chance it would have clipped me or my son's buggy."

He said that it was not an isolated incident.

"This has got to be looked at by the council. Do we have to wait for someone to be seriously injured or killed?" he said.

Mr Fendley paid tribute to former association chairman Mel Hayes, who instigated the campaign, and thanked Coun Hogan and Bowater's newsagent for helping to collect petition signatures.

A spokesman for Durham County Council said: "We look forward to receiving the petition and as soon as we get it we will look at it and take it from there."