NETWORK Rail has apologised for the "severe impact" of technical issues with the level crossing at Lydney Station which have caused it to be stuck down - sometimes for hours - on four days in a row this week.

Failures of the crossing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (September 4, 5, 6 and 7) caused lengthy delays of up to three hours for residents, workers at Lydney Industrial Estate, visitors to Lydney Harbour and rail passengers.

Network Rail engineers attended each time to unseize the barriers, but seemingly could not fix the problem as the failures continued.

County and district councillor for Lydney Alan Preest was in dialogue with Forest MP and Transport Secretary Mark Harper and Network Rail about the issue, and was among a host of locals who said that four days of failures is "not good enough" from Network Rail.

Cllr Preest added that together with the traffic lights at Tesco and at Lydney Hospital, it has "not been a good week for transport in Lydney".

But on Friday (September 8), NR said they have now dedicated more resources and "a more advanced technical team" to investigate the crossing issue.

A spokesperson said: "We are aware that our level crossing near Lydney railway station has suffered multiple failures in the last week.

"Despite sending our response teams out to resolve the issue, we have now dedicated additional resources and a more advanced technical team to investigate the issue.

"Many components have now been changed in the crossing and we will continue to invest time and resources to resolve this issue as quickly and as safely as possible. 

"We would like to apologise to passengers, road users and the local community for the severe impact this has had."