NETWORK Rail has revealed the cause which left the level crossing barriers at Whittington stuck on Good Friday (April 7). 

The failure caused the barriers to remain in the down position across the A495 and led to a build-up of traffic for a couple of hours.

To help teams remained on site and locally controlled the crossing.

A spokesperson from Network Rail explained: "Due to a technical issue, the Whittington level crossing barriers remained in the down position for a couple of hours on Friday.

OTHER NEWS:

"The fault was reported at around 12.30pm with our teams arriving just after 1pm.

“To ease traffic flow, our teams remained on site and locally controlled the level crossing.”

Following meticulous testing of the crew, the technical issue was resolved by 3pm.

The spokesperson added: “We regularly inspect all of our level crossings across our route; however, some issues may arise due to dirt getting in-between contact points, preventing barrier detection and resulting in the barriers remaining in the down position in order to keep the public safe and off the railway. 

Want to stay up to date with all the latest stories from Oswestry and the surrounding area? Click here to sign up for our morning and daily email newsletters and click on the + for the ‘Morning Briefing’ and the 'Daily Catch-Up'.

"We must carry out our testing to ensure the level crossing is safe to use.

“We apologise to local residents for the disturbance this caused, and we appreciate their patience while we resolved this issue."