Love locks removed from bridge due to structural damage fears

Aberdeenshire Council has removed all the love locks attached to a bridge in Stonehaven after concerns they could cause structural damage.

The council had asked couples who attached padlocks to Cowie Bridge to reclaim them.

The remaining locks were removed yesterday.

A council spokesman said: “We here at Aberdeenshire Council are great big, soppy romantics at heart. Unfortunately our bridges are not.

“The footbridge across the River Cowie in lovely Stonehaven was being damaged by all the love locks that have been attached to it.”

Since 2014, people have taken to attaching padlocks with their first names written or engraved on them to the side of the bridge as a romantic gesture.

This gesture is said to represent a couple’s committed love.

Love locks have become something of a modern day declaration of commitment, with the locks secured to thousands of bridges mirroring the popularity of the most famous of them all, the Pont des Arts in Paris.

In 2014, Aberdeen man Andrew Dickinson used the bridge as the setting to propose to his girlfriend Vicki O’ Regan, by attaching a padlock to the bridge inscribed with the words, ‘Vikki, will you marry me?’

Part of the famous Pont des Arts Bridge in Paris collapsed under the weight of love locks.

Authorities in France had to remove the locks. It is hoped that rather than leaving behind locks, visitors will instead take a ‘selfie’ and upload it to social media with the hashtag #LoveWithoutLocks.