The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Former student one of first to cross two bridges
A former Dundee student who became the first member of the public to cross the Tay Road Bridge when it opened 51 years ago helped write a new chapter of history yesterday when he became one of the first motorists to traverse the Queensferry Crossing – thanks to The Courier.
Hugh Pincott, now 75, made a special journey to Scotland from Plymouth for the opening, joining The Courier’s Michael Alexander to be one of the first to cross when the barriers were removed shortly before 1.45am.
Mr Pincott was a chemistry student at Queen’s College, Dundee, when he made the crossing from Dundee to Fife on the day of the Tay Road Bridge’s official opening on August 18 1966.
He returned to the city last year to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tay crossing.
But when the retired BP chemist learned the details surrounding the opening of the Queensferry Crossing over the Forth, he could not resist coming north by train and asked The Courier for help to celebrate a “triumph for Scottish engineering”.
He said: “This is an exciting development and I just had to be present and among the first people to use it.
“An opportunity like this doesn’t happen every day or even every year.”
Transport Scotland deliberately kept details of the Queensferry Crossing’s opening low key as it did not want to attract “wacky racers” bidding to be the first to race across.
However, The Courier learned that for both safety and practical traffic management reasons the northbound carriageway would open first, with southbound traffic following suit around an hour later – possibly between 12.30 and 1.30am.
Traffic would be led across the bridge by a marked police car for safety reasons.
Due to the labour-intensive nature of switching the traffic from the Forth Road Bridge to the new crossing, a great deal of coordination would be required between the bridge authority and police parties, it was understood.
As workmen put finishing touches to the road layout on both sides of the bridge, the only uncertainty at this stage of the evening was when exactly would the barriers be removed, and where was the best place to be for those trying to be one of the first to cross?