Low blow: Britain’s ‘most bashed bridge’ is hit for 120th time just days after reopening

An HGV travelling north smashed into the low Stuntney Road railway bridge in Cambridgeshire on Monday afternoon (March 4), causing significant delays in the local area.

The lorry collided with the 2.7-metre-high bridge, flipping onto its side and getting itself wedged underneath the structure.

The bridge, in Ely, is well-known for being underestimated by drivers of high vehicles, having been hit on no less than 120 occasions in the last 10 years.

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The bridge had only recently reopened following pedestrian and cyclist access improvement works, that also saw new warning signs installed on its approach.

But drivers of HGVs and other high vehicles are still failing to heed the warnings, causing damage to the bridge and delays on the road and railway while emergency services respond.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “A lorry struck the bridge at 14.54 today (Monday). There were no injuries but it did cause some damage to the bridge.

“Today’s incident prompted us to reiterate our ‘wise up, size up’ message to drivers of all high vehicles. Drivers need to know the height of their vehicle, not guess. In short: wise up, size up.”

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As well as causing delays on the roads, these collisions also mean bad news for the railways, with collisions causing 36 hours of delays for rail passengers in 2018 alone.

And these incidents come at a cost, with railway operators Network Rail spending more than £100,000 in the past five years on repairs to the bridge.

Shortly after the incident, local police tweeted a picture of the HGV wedged underneath the bridge, confirming that the lorry driver faces prosecution.  

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