It is understood a digger carried on the back of one of the lorries struck the bridge as it passed beneath, causing the deck to sheer away from on of its uprights.
That arm looks close to 16 ft when you see how high it is above the cab
Themoocher:
That arm looks close to 16 ft when you see how high it is above the cab
It’s a high cab aswell.
It looks very close to the motorway signage aswell.
Themoocher:
Themoocher:
That arm looks close to 16 ft when you see how high it is above the cabIt’s a high cab aswell.
It looks very close to the motorway signage aswell.
The fact is it cleared the gantry and probably numerous bridges before that point but not the bridge in question for some reason.
So another bridge strike by an HGV that possibly could have been avoided, I have set up a petition to review the height signage for all UK bridges that span the road network… petition.parliament.uk/petitions/154823 Please support our petition
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When you look at that bridge on Google Street View it appears to be inclined with the lowest point being over the London-bound hard shoulder.
google.co.uk/maps/@51.30882 … 312!8i6656
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Complyorcry:
So another bridge strike by an HGV that possibly could have been avoided, I have set up a petition to review the height signage for all UK bridges that span the road network… petition.parliament.uk/petitions/154823 Please support our petition
‘If’ we’ve got correct height trucks hitting incorrect height motorway bridges that’s not an issue of ‘signage’. 
Carryfast:
Themoocher:
Themoocher:
That arm looks close to 16 ft when you see how high it is above the cabIt’s a high cab aswell.
It looks very close to the motorway signage aswell.The fact is it cleared the gantry and probably numerous bridges before that point but not the bridge in question for some reason.
I passed under that bridge running at 16ft the other day and never hit it.
Carryfast:
Looks like a bit of bad loading, trying to squeeze everything on.
The bucket looks like it’s below the level of the tracks here and therefore on the load deck.
youtube.com/watch?v=z1ZpDvHOPPM 0.24
So probably hasn’t moved since it was loaded and I’d guess the driver had checked his height for at least motorway bridge height clearance.Which seems to be confirmed having got that far.
I like the way they’re still allowing traffic to use the other carriageway, with what remains of the bridge seemingly being held up by a length of netting !
I do hope they don’t allow a bus full of children to drive underneath [emoji33]
Health & safety police can’t be on the scene yet [emoji6]
blue estate:
:shock:
Can’t of been a serious fault, looks like they have been working on it since last october, now thats shocking, lazy gits.
The bucket is on back to front and with the teeth pointing down, so the arm is raised higher in the park position than it should be. What’s the chance the height of that “rubber duck” was measured with a different bucket on, coupled the normal way around (it’s in the face shovel position) with it sat with the heal down on the bed as opposed to the teeth? The bucket looks too big for a 17t machine too, it might not be but it could’ve been for a 20odd ton excavator.
Another theory is did the low loader driver assume the rubber duck was the same travelling height as a normal tracked 17t machine?
Turbovision:
When you look at that bridge on Google Street View it appears to be inclined with the lowest point being over the London-bound hard shoulder..
The bridge’s engineering on the opposite carriageway also looks totally different.With a different type of post and a different type of thicker set tapered mounting design which obviously creates a higher bridge base relative to the carriageway. 
If the boom was properly secured, if in the remote chance the hydraulics allowed any movement, the cab area would’ve been pushed upwards. The same as pushing the boom or dipper levers down when the bucket’s on the ground, would lift one end of the tracks (or in this case, tyres) upwards.
My first thought was that the digger had hit the bridge, but if you look at the digger there is no sign of any damage at all, the ram the soft hydraulic pipes, and no rubble or dust on top of the digger or trailer, hitting a bridge like that at 50mph would have done more damage to the digger and even pulled the digger off the trailer. Thank god nobody was seriously injured…
Carryfast:
Turbovision:
When you look at that bridge on Google Street View it appears to be inclined with the lowest point being over the London-bound hard shoulder..
The bridge’s engineering on the opposite carriageway also looks totally different.With a different type of post and a different type of thicker set tapered mounting design which obviously creates a higher bridge base relative to the carriageway.
It’s called a cantilever bridge, all the strength is in the section that is still standing, the beam that came down has no structural strength, it is light weight and sat freely on 2 ledges, so wouldn’t take to much effort to shift it,
For a bridge that has been sat there for maybe 20 years, it hasn’t done to bad to not have been hit already if it was under height which i doubt, driver error written all over this, he already knew he might have a problem with his height so went on the hard shoulder to go under it slowly.
OssieD:
My first thought was that the digger had hit the bridge, but if you look at the digger there is no sign of any damage at all, the ram the soft hydraulic pipes, and no rubble or dust on top of the digger or trailer, hitting a bridge like that at 50mph would have done more damage to the digger and even pulled the digger off the trailer. Thank god nobody was seriously injured…
That was my thoughts too.
But there would have been double deckers and transporters running up and down there all day.
That’s why I think he’s struck the bridge.
That had the ingredients to be a full on disaster today
weeto:
Carryfast:
Turbovision:
When you look at that bridge on Google Street View it appears to be inclined with the lowest point being over the London-bound hard shoulder..
The bridge’s engineering on the opposite carriageway also looks totally different.With a different type of post and a different type of thicker set tapered mounting design which obviously creates a higher bridge base relative to the carriageway.
It’s called a cantilever bridge, all the strength is in the section that is still standing, the beam that came down has no structural strength, it is light weight and sat freely on 2 ledges, so wouldn’t take to much effort to shift it,
For a bridge that has been sat there for maybe 20 years, it hasn’t done to bad to not have been hit already if it was under height which i doubt, driver error written all over this, he already knew he might have a problem with his height so went on the hard shoulder to go under it slowly.
Surely there can’t be nutters out there who are prepared to knowingly risk running over height on motorways.To the point of crawling along the hard shoulder at every bridge to supposedly ‘reduce’ the risk of hitting one.
The fact that he hasn’t hit any other bridges on route,or the gantry before the bridge in question and the unbelievable nature,of the idea of crawling along the hard shoulder at every bridge,knowing the load is over height,all seems too much to be co incidence
Good load restraint. Rather than the load moving it obliterated a bridge instead 
Themoocher:
the ingredients to be a full on disaster today
You should expect it, after all It’s a Bank Holiday
This pic was posted on Twitter by one of the police accounts, I think taken from the police helicopter.
I’m not convinced the plant truck is the cause? Unless it really was crawling along?
