MP MICHAEL Ancram is putting pressure on Network Rail for a safer alternative to the notorious skew bridges at Burbage Wharf.

He met the chairman of the company, Ian McAllister, this week and told him that he feared there would soon be a major disaster on the twin bridges.

The Tory MP and shadow foreign secretary also raised concerns of residents in Great Bedwyn and New Mill, Pewsey, over plans to put 115ft tall communication masts at eight mile intervals along the London to Penzance high spreed railway line.

Mr Ancram has long campaigned for action over the Burbage Wharf bridges, which many believe are the most dangerous stretch of the busy Marlborough to Salisbury road.

There have been numerous accidents on the bridges that carry the A346 over the London to Penzance line and the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The most recent was in August when a car carrying four people crashed through a steel safety barrier and plunged more than 20 feet down onto the railway line.

Fortunately, the line was closed at the time for track works to be carried out and the driver and his passengers escaped from the wreckage with minor back injuries.

Six years ago talented music teacher Richard Exon, 23, died when his Volvo car crashed through a gap between the two bridges and landed in between the wagons of a freight train laden with 4,000 tonnes of stone.

Burbage Parish Council has been campaigning for more than 30 years for a single bridge to replace the twin skew bridges. When the village's long promised by-pass was opened 12 years ago the bridges' section was dropped because of cost.

Campaigners, including Mr Ancram, fear that it is only a matter of time before there is a major catastrophe when a large vehicle, like a lorry or coach, crashes through the bridges and down onto to the rail track into the path of a high speed train.

Many warn that carriages could be derailed and sent hurtling into the adjacent canal.

Mr Ancram has been an ardent supporter of the campaign to improve the whole A346/338, which has resulted in numerous minor safety improvements along the road between Marlborough and Salisbury including speed warning signs at the Burbage bridges.

On Monday, Mr Ancram met Network Rail chief Mr McAllister in London to discuss the Burbage Wharf bridges and also the controversial rail mast proposal.

Mr Ancram said: "So far as Burbage Wharf is concerned I outlined my very grave anxieties about the potential for a major disaster as a result of the unusual configuration of a main road crossing a railway line and a canal by two separate bridges in a twisted configuration all within the space of about 20 yards.

"I argued that the criteria by which potential risks at road-over-rail crossings are assessed did not take sufficient account of such configurations nor of the incidence of previous road-onto-rail accidents." Mr Ancram said he discussed with Mr McAllister the possibility of resurrecting the original scheme to have a single replacement for the two skew bridges.

"As expected, he was not at this time able to give any commitment," commented the MP.

Mr Ancram said he was seeking a meeting with British Waterways and with the Minister for Transport Alistair Darling to keep up the pressure for improvements to the skew bridges.

On the question of the rail transmitter masts, which are intended to allow train staff to keep in touch with signallers at all times, Mr McAllister said the masts were necessary for England to have a system compatible with the rest of Europe.

He also said the mast network would comply with the requirements of the inquiry that followed the Ladbroke Grove train disaster in 1999 in which 31 people died.

Mr Ancram suggested to the rail chairman that mast-less systems similar to those used in the USA should be looked into to avoid the necessity for masts in sensitive locations. "He has undertaken to inquire about them and come back to me," said Mr Ancram.