Truck crashes into notorious A5 rail bridge
AN ARTICULATED lorry crashed into a notorious railway bridge over the A5 in Hinckley for the third time in a single month.
The HGV became wedged under the bridge between the junctions at Dodwells Road and Nutts Lane on Sunday.
The road was closed for around an hour while emergency crews prised the vehicle from beneath the bridge and inspected the damage.
Network Rail said trains between Birmingham and Leicester were delayed by 30 minutes.
Highways England and Leicestershire Police also attended the scene to manage traffic disruption.
A highways spokesman said the road was closed between 4.45pm and 5.45pm.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “Just after 5pm on February 19, we received reports from Leicestershire Police that a lorry had struck a railway bridge on Watling Street in Hinckley.
“Network Rail workers visited the site and carried out a bridge inspection. Normal working was resumed just before 5.30pm.”
The crash is the 14th time the bridge has been struck in just over a year, despite several height restriction warning signs in place.
On January 26, an articulated lorry became wedged under the bridge bringing roads to a halt and costing businesses thousands in lost trade.
In December, a HGV full of flammable aerosol cans burst into flames after crashing into the bridge.
Network Rail previously urged drivers of high vehicles to heed the multiple low bridge warning signs.
It is one of the worst bridges in the country for so-called “bridge strikes”.
Each collision causes hours of delays and costs the taxpayer-funded organisation thousands of pounds in compensation.
The local government agency called for lorry drivers to be banned from using sat-nav systems designed for cars and, instead, be forced to use systems which will warn of low briges.