A MAJOR review sparked by flooding which caused the two-day closure of a 40-mile stretch of the A1 has spared the road’s aging infrastructure of any blame.

The Highways Agency pledged a “full” review of events following last September’s flooding to determine any lessons learnt.

Addressing its findings, the agency said unprecedented rainfall was to blame for the chaotic scenes and made no criticism of the aging section of the A1 at Catterick, North Yorkshire, which had flooded, or its own role in the incident.

The Government has subsequently announced the upgrade of the so-called “missing link” – the stretch of the A1 between Leeming Bar and Barton, including the flooded section at Catterick, which had been shelved because of funding cuts.

Meanwhile, the agency has denied claims that an engineering project which was carried out in 2010 further south on the A1 as part of an upgrade between Leeming and Dishforth was aimed at cutting drainage capacity in a bid to make savings.

Coach operator Ian Ashman, from Washington, Wearside, said he wrote to the agency last year about the engineering work, while also expressing concerns as to why the A1 failed to cope with September’s heavy rain.

He said: “No-one wanted to talk about the concerns I raised and I was disappointed with the lack of a substantive reply.

“It seemed to me they didn’t want to admit there had been a mistake.”

A spokeswoman for the Highways Agency said: “The redesign of the drainage system was undertaken to optimise the surface water channel width and included more outlet gullies to ensure that it did not reduce the drainage capacity, and was designed to save taxpayers' money by reducing the amount of concrete used.

“It is wrong to interpret this as us reducing drainage capability and capacity.”

Referring to last year’s flooding, the spokeswoman said it had reviewed its emergency response measures which meant it was able to minimise disruption when faced with a similar flooding threat on the A1 in November.

She said the agency was buying pump equipment, similar to that used by the fire service, after it was forced to call on help from a high-volume pump manned by crews from West Yorkshire.

It was also discussing with the Environment Agency any future preventative measures which may be required to prevent flooding disruption.

North Yorkshire County Councillor and businessman Carl Les, who runs Leeming Bar Services on the A1, said it was clear the nature of the road layout at Catterick meant it was always susceptible to flooding.

He said: “The Catterick by-pass where the flooding occurred was such a poorly designed by-pass. It is on a culvert below ground level and it drains into the River Swale.

“It is plain to anybody that it is an old piece of road not designed to modern standards .”