POLICE officers have joined forces with council officials to clamp down on a “rat run” across a countryside footpath.
Motorists have illegally been driving down the path, between Brierton Lane and Dalton Back Lane, in Hartlepool, because it allows them to bypass a busy part of the A689, the main southerly route out of town.
Now police and Hartlepool Council have installed a heavy-duty metal barrier to stop vehicles using an alternative route to access the footpath, after concerns were raised about public safety. Some of the vehicles using the route are suspected of being involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.
A similar barrier will also soon be installed at the end of Macrae Road in Hartlepool to stop vehicles using an alternative route to access the footpath.
Chris Scaife, Hartlepool Council’s Countryside Access Officer, said: “This has been a problem for some time and it has been a case of coming up with the best way of dealing with it.”
Tata Steel in Hartlepool supplied the steel for the barriers and PLS Fabrication, of Hartlepool, made them, all for free.
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