TEIGNMOUTH'S new flood defence scheme is suffering from 'too many' volunteers.

So many are turning out when the alert to close the gates is sent, that it is causing confusion.

And cars being parked in front of the gates are also causing a headache.

The £4 million project worked well during the recent tidal surges, but town clerk Dave Tickell told a town council meeting on Tuesday, that the response system needed to be fine tuned.

He praised the volunteers who had the task of manually closing the gates when storms are forecast, but said there were too many of them.