Drivers face holiday M-way misery after bridge collapse
HOLIDAYMAKERS faced more travel chaos yesterday on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
The reopening of the main motorway to the Channel ports after an M20 footbridge collapsed was delayed by several hours.
It meant a second day of long tailbacks for drivers heading to the Continent.
The accident happened when a digger transported on the back of a lorry collided with the bridge at about noon on Saturday. Repair work took longer than expected and the route was reopened at about 5pm yesterday.
Eurostar services from London to Paris were delayed until lunchtime yesterday when a person was killed by a train near the French capital yesterday morning. The train involved was not on a Eurostar service. Also, all trains at London Waterloo station were stopped yesterday afternoon after a fire was reported at a trackside property.
Meanwhile, two people have died in separate incidents while swimming.
Nick Thomas, 45, from Ellesmere, Shropshire, was pulled unconscious from the water just a mile short of reaching France during a cross-channel swim.
A spokesman for the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation said: “There was an extremely experienced support team on board the support vessel. He was given CPR and taken to Calais, where he was sadly pronounced dead.” A young man drowned while swimming in a lake to cool down in Virginia Water, Surrey. The victim, in his 20s, is thought to have become entangled in reeds on Friday evening.
A teenage girl, who jumped into the lake with other friends in a bid to rescue him, had to be rushed to hospital after swallowing a large amount of water.
A man and two women were pulled from the sea off Bournemouth pier on Saturday evening after a dinghy capsized. One of the victims was rushed to hospital in a serious condition.