A FAULTY level crossing, which has had to be manned by police several times in the past six months to prevent drivers straying into the path of an oncoming train, is to be fixed before the end of this week.

Network Rail had come under fire from the British Transport Police and Northern Constabulary after their officers were repeatedly sent to patrol the Arabella-Nigg crossing, near Inverness, when the gate jammed in both open and closed positions.

The Herald understands that senior staff at Northern Constabulary had become increasingly irate over the problem, which had seen their officers called out to man the point on seven occasions since September – often for hours at a time or overnight.

On one occasion, on September 18 last year, the fault occurred twice in one day, and the most recent call-out for the force lasted one-and-a-half hours on February 2.

Meanwhile, British Transport Police have been called to station the crossing, at Arabella on the B9175 road to Nigg, on six occasions since September.

There were fears that unless the problem was fixed drivers could stray on to the rail lines and into the path of an oncoming train, mistakenly believing that if the gate was in an upright position it was safe to go when in fact it had simply jammed open.

Now Network Rail, which is responsible for maintaining level crossings, has confirmed it will replace the faulty part of the barrier this week.

A spokesman for the operator said: "Engineers were called in to recondition the barrier at the end of January, but as a permanent solution we will be replacing the faulty part by the end of this week."

Northern Constabulary welcomed the development. A spokesman for the force said: "We have responded to a number of calls at that point in recent months, which means we are diverting or resources away from what we should be doing ."