HIGHWAYS bosses were accused today of risking a major crash on the A64, after it was claimed they broke two promises to improve safety before closing several gaps.

Worried farmer Edward Brown fears a motorist will plough into the side of lorries trying to turn into his narrow farm entrance.

He says that because there is no slip road, huge articulated vehicles had to slow in the outside lane and then cross the path of traffic in the inside lane to make the tight turn. "It could prove fatal," he warned.

Haulier Richard Rooke backed up his concerns, saying he believed the "hazardous and dangerous" manoeuvre with a 44-ton lorry would lead to a serious accident.

"Other vehicles are not fully aware of your intentions, and the lorry driver has to contend with fast moving cars attempting to overtake, particularly on the nearside of the lorry," he said.

Mr Brown said the Highways Agency:

Agreed to provide a slip road to make entering and leaving the farm safer - but then reneged on its promise after discovering it would cost too much

lPromised that safety would be improved at several farm entrances before closing gaps in the central reservation - but then shut them without any such improvements.

He produced a letter by agency operations manager Chris Holehouse, written in January 2004, which said the gaps would only be closed "once suitable provisions have been made to ensure safe alternative accesses for local people, businesses and villages".

Now Mr Brown says he has spent 57 hours collecting almost 1,000 signatures for a petition calling for the safety measures.

Selby MP John Grogan said he would happily support a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman about the agency's change of stance, and might even raise the matter on the floor of the House of Commons.

He said: "I regard this situation as being totally unacceptable and a complete breach of faith."

The agency said today it was aware of Mr Brown's concerns and had offered improvements to his access as part of a negotiated compensation package, as a result of some of his land being taken to build the Bilbrough scheme.

A spokeswoman confirmed it had decided not to proceed with the improvements because of escalating costs.

However, the agency had offered Mr Brown a contribution towards the cost of providing an alternative access road to his farm from the flyover bridge at nearby Bilbrough Top.

"The contribution matches the amount of money earmarked for the original proposed improvements at the A64 access."

But Mr Brown said he would have been expected to meet 90 per cent of the costs of the alternative access road, which he could not afford.

The agency spokeswoman added that it was seeking closure of all the gaps, now that the new Bilbrough Top flyover provided a safe crossing point.

It was also carrying out initial assessments into the possibility of providing a bridge in the Streethouses area, which would provide a further safe crossing point.

Updated: 09:46 Wednesday, October 05, 2005