Those clever people in charge of maintaining our highways have certainly excelled themselves of late.

Was anyone else taken in by their cunning rouse at the Brambling Fields junction on the A64 recently? How they must have chuckled when they put up their diversion signs six days before the road through Rillington was actually closed. A 28 mile drive to Scarborough from Norton via Pickering instead of the normal 22 miles via Rillington was such joy, as well as being good for the environment.

Returning from York on the A64 at 11pm last Friday was a real hoot. Waiting almost 15 minutes for a temporary traffic signal to turn green gave us adequate time to read the numerous signs informing motorists that a “convoy” vehicle would escort traffic through the roadworks in order to ensure “safety of the workforce”.

The vehicle, however, failed to materialise and a hair-raising journey through several chicanes and inadequately signed diversions ensued. Discovering who is responsible for these latest displays of ineptitude may well prove difficult. Perhaps we should look for a man in an outsize suit with a large red shiny nose and big feet.

Peter Walker, Ryedale District Councillor for Norton East