MOTORISTS say they have been baffled after road signs with conflicting directions for lorry drivers were erected at the end of a lane rarely used by HGVs.

Vintage car restorer Martin Hatfield said the signs at the junction of Scholla Lane and Bullamoor Road, in Northallerton, instructing HGV drivers to turn both left and right, had left people bewildered.

Mr Hatfield, whose home overlooks the signs, said the junction was too narrow for lorries and that he had seen articulated trucks struggling to turn left, while it would be impossible for a HGV to turn right.

He said: “I wonder about the mentality of someone who puts up two signs telling drivers to do different things at the same spot.”

The signs also include a grammatical error, with an unnecessary apostrophe.

The Northern Echo understands the signs were erected last week by contractors for the Environment Agency, which is carrying out Turker Beck and Sun Beck flood alleviation works on Scholla Lane.

Excavated material is being taken by truck to an Environment Agency flood alleviation scheme in Pickering.

North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department had agreed a traffic management plan with the agency, which involved lorries turning left at Scholla Lane to head out through Northallerton, where half the HGVs would pick up the A170 at Thirsk and the other half would head north along the A684 to the A19.

As the lorries pass several schools along this route, for safety reasons the county council asked for temporary signs to be placed at the junction, so they could be swapped at the beginning and end of school days to instruct drivers to turn right and head out up Bullamoor Bank to travel to Thirsk via the A19.

Instead of the temporary signs, the Environment Agency contractors erected fixed signs.

The Environment Agency was unavailable to comment.