BEMUSED residents in a quiet North-East hamlet have been on their best behaviour after a huge CCTV system was fitted in the local bus stop.

People waiting for a lift into town from Merrybent, near Darlington, have found themselves under the constant gaze of camera lenses contained in a 5ft high iron box after Darlington Borough Council installed the outsized kit.

Villager Colin Douglas said the security system was like something out of Dr Who, adding: "It looks like a TARDIS - it's absolutely massive."

The antiquated equipment takes up most of one wall in the tiny roadside structure, meaning that children on the school run and people waiting for a bus to the shops have nowhere to hide from its lens.

"The borough council must be trying to stop some kind of nefarious activity which we don't know about," said Mr Douglas, who is chairman of Merrybent Parish Council.

"It seems a bit unnecessary to me.

"Merrybent is a pretty quiet place, and as far as I'm aware we have never had any trouble at the bus stop.

"I have no idea why it's been put in there. People in the village think it's hilarious."

He added: "No one consulted us before they put it in, it just appeared. I think it's a bit over the top, to be honest.

"It wouldn't look out of place on the Hubble spacecraft."

A spokeswoman for the council said that the system was an old piece of kit which had been rigged up to brighten up the gloomy shelter.

"This CCTV camera was put into the bus shelter in Merrybent after it was taken from a redundant bus shelter elsewhere in the borough," she said.

"It is an active surveillance unit, but the main reason for putting it in at Merrybent was that it provides a light in a shelter which is otherwise unlit.

"We are happy to review it if the parish council is unhappy, but if we remove the CCTV unit, we would also be removing the light."