“Huge” damage caused by a Tesco lorry when it crashed into a railway bridge earlier this week has prompted a train operator to criticise HGV drivers for not taking enough care on the roads.
Great Western Railway’s (GWR) deputy MD said bridge strikes by lorries were regularly occurring despite being “entirely avoidable”.
In the latest incident, the Tesco truck struck a bridge in Plymouth on 30 August, forcing the railway line that connects Cornwall and Plymouth with the rest of the country to close.
Network Rail said the closure caused “bank holiday misery for thousands of travellers” and that the HGV was wedged in place for more than 24 hours before it was removed the following day once structural engineers had made the bridge safe.
Richard Rowland, GWR deputy MD, said: “In the past 24 hours alone, our customers’ journeys have been delayed or cancelled by two separate incidents where lorry drivers simply haven’t taken enough care on the road.
“We will of course do all we can to keep people moving or offer alternative travel options, but these are entirely avoidable circumstances and they shouldn’t be happening so regularly.”
Network Rail route director Mike Gallop urged hauliers and drives to take better care and look out for height warnings: “This is happening far too often where thousands of passengers have their plans ruined by careless driving,” he said. “Those delays are compounded by the huge bill which is often picked up by the taxpayer.”
Every day there are around five bridge strikes caused by HGVs and the annual bill for repairs comes in at around £20m.
Last year, the senior traffic commissioner Richard Turfitt wrote to all HGV operators warning them that regulatory action, including the loss of their operator’s licence, was a real possibility should they fail to take appropriate measures to prevent bridge strikes.
Tesco had not responded to our request for comment at the time of writing.
