IT SHOULD have been closed years ago.

The gap on the A64 at Bilbrough Top between York and Tadcaster is the worst accident blackspot in North Yorkshire. Everybody knows that. And yet it still remains open.

This long and sorry saga is a shameful tale of slow-moving officialdom. The Highways Agency does not want to close the gap until work starts on building a flyover at Bilbrough Top. This reluctance appears to be for operational reasons. The closure of the gap and the erection of a new flyover have been put together in what seems to be a bureaucratic job lot.

The one can't go ahead without the other - or so we are told.

This linking is puzzling. After all, the gap could, and should, have been closed years ago. This newspaper has been calling for such action since 1999, with the support of emergency services and local residents.

Yet it remains open, still tempting fate every day. Since we first called for closure, two motorists have died as a result of accidents at Bilbrough Top. How many more people will have to die before something is done?

Selby district councillor Brian Percival believes the Highways Agency should be charged with corporate manslaughter if another fatality occurs at Bilbrough Top. He argues that if such a charge can be brought against railway businesses, the agency should be liable too.

Whether or not Mr Percival is legally right about this, the agency does need to get its act together.

This was to be the year when Bilbrough Top was finally sorted out. We were told that work on the flyover would begin in spring. Then June was given as the start date. Then work was pushed back to the autumn.

Now no one seems certain when work will begin. money is at the root of it all. The flyover was predicted to cost £4.8 million. That figure has apparently shot up. So vital work is delayed again.

The money should be found and work should start as soon as possible. What price another wasted life?

Updated: 11:17 Wednesday, August 06, 2003