DURHAM'S rising bollard celebrates its second birthday facing renewed calls for it to be scrapped.

The device, installed at the exit to Market Place to stop drivers making off without paying the £2 charge, has damaged - in some cases written-off - more than 111 vehicles that have moved forward while it is rising.

And despite Durham County Council's efforts to make the CCTV-monitored system more user-friendly, critics say the bollard should be replaced.

The council introduced the first of a new breed of toll roads in a blaze of publicity on October 1, 2002, to cut the amount of traffic driving on to the city's historic peninsular.

The charge has exceeded expectations, cutting vehicle numbers by 85 per cent while pedestrian usage of the Market Place and Saddler Street area has risen by ten per cent.

Breakdown boss Fred Henderson, who has been called out to retrieve several vehicles damaged by the device, believes it should be removed.

"I would have thought the total number of vehicles damaged has got to be over 150, 100 of them with a lot of damage.

"If you take the average cost of damage as being about £3,000 then you are looking at a total of £300,0000 at least. One or two insurance companies have talked to me about suing the council."

Mr Henderson said he believed the main problem was the angle of the red and green lights, which did not face the motorist.

He felt there should be a similar system to the one at the Tyne Tunnel, with traffic lights and security cameras.

Hertfordshire businessman Nick de Cazenove, whose car suffered £6,500 damage, said the signage and the lights were confusing.

"We suffered chest pains when the air bags exploded. My wife, who was a passenger, still won't get behind the wheel of a car.

"The matter is with the insurance company. They have got their legal people looking at it.

"I travel a lot in the US and in Europe and I don't know of anywhere that has a rising bollard at a toll road pay point. There is usually a boom gate."

A spokesman for the council said the toll road, which has won awards, had proved successful and made the city more enjoyable for pedestrians. He said the bollard and operation of the paypoint were 'continually under review'.

"If it is used properly and carefully, there is no reason why anyone should have any difficulty. The vast majority of more than 200,000 drivers who have gone through it have had absolutely no problem whatsoever.