CSI: TrucknetUK Division is now in full swing I see
Carryfast:
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
History alone will show that there is nothing wrong with the height of that bridge, or it would have been down years ago, also motorway bridges and gantries are not all at the same height so he maybe knew that bridge is slightly lower although at minimum allowed than the rest he has to go under to get to his destination.
But i’m sure the facts will come out when plod gets his tape measure out, and lets hope for the driver and his employer’s sake it is under height.
It’s going to be hard to measure the bridge height directly above the hard shoulder now!!
eagerbeaver:
It’s going to be hard to measure the bridge height directly above the hard shoulder now!!
It won’t matter they only need the height of the load everything else is a given. 
eagerbeaver:
It’s going to be hard to measure the bridge height directly above the hard shoulder now!!
Well since there is no actual maximum legal height a vehicle can be in the UK, the driver should be ok then. 
weeto:
Carryfast:
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
History alone will show that there is nothing wrong with the height of that bridge, or it would have been down years ago, also motorway bridges and gantries are not all at the same height so he maybe knew that bridge is slightly lower although at minimum allowed than the rest he has to go under to get to his destination.
But i’m sure the facts will come out when plod gets his tape measure out, and lets hope for the driver and his employer’s sake it is under height.
It’s a bit of a co incidence if every bridge and gantry along the M20 is over minimum motorway height except that one and the driver knew all the relevant measurements of the unsigned bridge heights to the inch.But thought this one was tight enough to have to crawl under it on the hard shoulder and then took it out by mistake at 5 mph.Thereby confirming his worst fears of just how tight it was. Picture the scene as he tries to explain all that to the law and TC. 
I wonder if this will trigger a mass bridge measuring exercise of bridge heights above hard shoulders in the UK now?
eagerbeaver:
I wonder if this will trigger a mass bridge measuring exercise of bridge heights above hard shoulders in the UK now?
If you drive down the A38 in devon most of the bridges have height markers on them over hard shoulder
Carryfast:
weeto:
Carryfast:
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
History alone will show that there is nothing wrong with the height of that bridge, or it would have been down years ago, also motorway bridges and gantries are not all at the same height so he maybe knew that bridge is slightly lower although at minimum allowed than the rest he has to go under to get to his destination.
But i’m sure the facts will come out when plod gets his tape measure out, and lets hope for the driver and his employer’s sake it is under height.It’s a bit of a co incidence if every bridge and gantry along the M20 is over minimum motorway height except that one and the driver knew all the relevant measurements of the unsigned bridge heights to the inch.But thought this one was tight enough to have to crawl under it on the hard shoulder and then took it out by mistake at 5 mph.Thereby confirming his worst fears of just how tight it was.
It will be over, but not by much, they do exist, there is one between 43 and 44 on the M6 north bound and is hit or rather brushed regularly by straw wagons, the under side of it has quite a shine to it after all these years but the others haven’t.
And we already know low loaders with diggers on hit some but not all bridges on the routes they take that have some of the bridges at legal minimum height but they don’t hit them all, the evidence is scattered all over the country CF.
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…
The motorcyclist was taken to hospital with chest injuries. …
Genuine question, is excavation machinery normally carried on a low loader that way?? I’m sure any time I see machinery on a low loader the bucket is normally at the back of the low loader
selby newcomer:
Genuine question, is excavation machinery normally carried on a low loader that way?? I’m sure any time I see machinery on a low loader the bucket is normally at the back of the low loader
It’s not a low loader for plant,it looks like a bus/coach recovery trailer.
You can load them either way,bucket forward or back as long as you are aware of the height.If that digger has knocked the bridge down,he must have been crawling along because there are no signs of damage or debris.Easiest way to be sure is to check the drivers seat,then you will know. 
switchlogic:
CSI: TrucknetUK Division is now in full swing I see
it certainly is luke, but has anybody considered the possibility that the bridge collapsed of it’s own accord taking into account that it look’s like it is having some type of work carried out.■■?
m.a.n rules:
switchlogic:
CSI: TrucknetUK Division is now in full swing I seeit certainly is luke, but has anybody considered the possibility that the bridge collapsed of it’s own accord taking into account that it look’s like it is having some type of work carried out.■■?
Yep i did
HDL:
selby newcomer:
Genuine question, is excavation machinery normally carried on a low loader that way?? I’m sure any time I see machinery on a low loader the bucket is normally at the back of the low loaderIt’s not a low loader for plant,it looks like a bus/coach recovery trailer.
You can load them either way,bucket forward or back as long as you are aware of the height.If that digger has knocked the bridge down,he must have been crawling along because there are no signs of damage or debris.Easiest way to be sure is to check the drivers seat,then you will know.
the seat is probably the 1st place the police looked
Thanks for clearing that up though, just goes to show my knowledge of that type of work is zero
HDL:
If that digger has knocked the bridge down,he must have been crawling along
That’s the scenario that weeto seems to be going by.IE knew it was tight so went for the hard shoulder to crawl under it.
selby newcomer:
Genuine question, is excavation machinery normally carried on a low loader that way?? I’m sure any time I see machinery on a low loader the bucket is normally at the back of the low loader
In this case if that’s any where near motorway bridge height,the best idea would have been to remove the bucket and carry it seperately.Then lower the arm.
Just watched the ITV news…
Looking at the photos / footage, the digger looks undamaged.
And by the looks of it, there’s (been) a dumper on the ‘neck’ - that’s IF it was a semi low loader trailer, not a bus recovery trailer… 
But also, if he was ‘crawling’ to get under the bridge, surely it would have took a bigger whack to bring down the bridge??
And, there was scaffolding on the bridge… WHY■■? was it under investigation, maybe for subsidence?
Got to love the signwriting on the MAN unit; “Auto Renovations”
Has any thought of the fact the chiller trailer had come from maidstone services and had raised his suppension fully up instead of travel position ?