Another fine mess you got us into. Congratulations must be in order yet again to the local Highways Department for the Malton Road debacle last weekend (February 7 and 8).

On a weekend when the well-publicised A64 diversion resulted in traffic to and from the coast being diverted via Pickering, what greeted the weekend trippers was a set of ludicrously-timed traffic lights near the Black Bull area, resulting in massive delays on both days with traffic backing up for miles in both directions.

I understand the traffic control measures were for emergency water main repairs, but I have heard on good authority the repairs to the water main were fixed midweek – well before the weekend A64 closure.

Furthermore, why were the lights set so as to give only a 15 second green light timescale – which only allowed four or five cars at a time to pass, before a 30-second wait until the next “go” interval?

No doubt excuses will have been formulated. County council cost-cutting cannot surely be one of them – or could it? Maybe there is a lack of funding to employ anyone with commonsense.

This is not the first time traffic lights have caused major problems in the area in the past few months. Last summer, there were similar hold-ups at the start of the school summer holidays on the A169 and the A170 at Wilton on Thornton Show Day.

As for the future, has anyone told local highways experts that the Tour de Yorkshire will soon be passing through the area – there could be mayhem in May. Watch this space.

Phil Fisher, Pickering