NETWORK Rail has completed a line of steel fencing alongside railway tracks near York as it tries to prevent trespassers getting on to the lines.

The company installed a series of metal fences at Copmanthorpe earlier this year, intending to prevent people walking across fields and gaining access to the busy East Coast mainline.

However it left a gap in the metal fencing at one location where a footpath approaches the line, leaving old wooden fences in place to prevent people trespassing.

Copmanthorpe resident Trevor Buckle contacted The Press recently to complain that the wooden fencing was dilapidated and could allow children to stray on to the lines.

He said he had contacted Network Rail in April to say a wooden strut on the fence was hanging loosely, leaving a gap which children could easily climb through.

He claimed workmen then came out to fix it but ‘bodged’ the job.

He said he also could not understand why the metal fence had not been completed in the first place.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said the metal fencing was installed to deter trespass, both of the ‘regular kind’ and of people wishing to do themselves harm.

She said that because the boundary came close to the stanchions and overhead line equipment, additional safety checks had been required before the metal fencing could be completed.

She added that such checks had recently been completed, allowing the missing sections of fencing to be installed.