POLICE have said they will work with organisers of a village carnival to prevent disturbances breaking out at next year's event.

At Staindrop carnival on Saturday, police were called to a small disturbance outside one of the village's pubs at about 5pm.

Although the fight had dispersed by the time police arrived, Sergeant Bill Dutton said officers would be working with the carnival committee to prevent repeat scenes at next year's event.

Sgt Dutton said: "Next year we've provisionally agreed to liaise with the carnival organisers to stop this happening again.

"We'll look to see what we can do, such as getting the pubs to shut earlier on the day."