FIFTY-year-old pictures show the Great North Road under three feet of water.

The pictures, from 1960, show how the A1 at Catterick, has always been prone to flooding.

Last week the Highways Agency, which maintains the road, launched an investigation after serious flooding caused a 40-mile stretch of the road to be closed for two days.

It was thought the closure was unprecedented, but as these pictures show, the stretch of the A1 at Catterick, at least, has flooded before.

Darlington councillor Alan Macnab lived in Catterick Village in the 1960s and 70s.

He said the reason why this section of the A1 is prone to flooding is that the road is lower than the adjoining fields.

A beck runs close to the fields and inevitably floods when exposed to prolonged rainfall.

Coun Macnab said: “I think, following flooding in 1968, road and water board engineers did some work to reduce the likelihood of the beck flooding onto the A1.

“No doubt 44 years on they will do some more work in this area to reduce the likelihood of another closure.”