THE motorway-style electronic signs that cost thousands of pounds to install on the A590 remained blank despite a serious road accident. 

The Matrix signs were put up by Highways England in March and they cost £800,000 to install, they were put up as part of a £31m investment into the North West. 

The signs are meant to alert drivers of diversions and traffic updates and earlier in the year a spokesman for Highways England said they would be used "for big incidents".

On Wednesday (July 29) an accident involving a motorcyclist from Edinburgh closed a stretch of the M6 in Cumbria. 

The motorway was closed in both directions between junction 36 at Kirkby Lonsdale and junction 39 at Shap.

The motorcyclist was taken to hospital with life changing injuries.

Despite this the matrix signs remained blank. 

A spokesman for Highways England has assured the Evening Mail that the signs are working and that they were used twice in June. 

The first time there was an obstruction on the A590 and drivers were warned to drive slowly on June 12 and the second time was to warn drivers of an accident on the east bound section of the A66 on June 16. 

The spokesman said: "The signs have been deployed recently although they were not used on Wednesday. 

"They are not fully up and running yet and we are still tweaking the system to ensure they can be used by our north west regional contact centre and by the national traffic operations centre in Birmingham. 

"They were put up in response to businesses saying they wanted better information about accidents when travelling on the A590."

Have you ever seen the matrix signs on? Email robyn.durdy@cnmedia.co.uk to share your views.