TRAFFIC lights will be providing extra protection to a war memorial which has been involved in several incidents.

The fencing around the memorial in Skelton, in east Cleveland, has been damaged in three incidents since April at the A173 Marske Lane Junction.

The council says the problem is being caused by two-way traffic and the difficulties for vehicles, and especially lorries, turning north and left onto Marske Lane.

Now Redcar and Cleveland council has altered the timing on the lights, so when it's green for traffic travelling to Guisborough, the lights will be on red for traffic in the opposite direction and vice versa.

This will allow drivers to use the full carriageway width to turn if necessary.

New signs will be erected to warn motorists of the changes which came into effect this week.

The council's Principal Engineer Adrian Smith said: "We needed to take some action over what has been a traffic troublespot and we believe this is the easiest method.

"Drivers may be slightly confused at the switch because we're stopping two-way traffic, but as long as they obey the traffic signals, they'll have no trouble," he added.