The bank holiday motorway miracle
A FREAK accident brought a footbridge crashing down on to a motorway packed with bank holiday travellers yesterday.
Astonishingly, no one was killed when the concrete and steel bridge more than 50ft long collapsed on to the London-bound carriageway of the M20 in Kent.
A motorcyclist passing underneath at the same time was hurt – but miraculously escaped serious injury. The rider, said to be a man in his 50s, is thought to have been clipped by the falling bridge as other vehicles braked hard. He was airlifted to hospital with suspected broken ribs.
The bridge apparently collapsed after a digger on the back of a lorry on the hard shoulder hit the span. The rear of a second lorry was crushed by the falling bridge but, amazingly, no one else was hurt.
Exactly what led to the collision shortly after noon was last night being investigated by police and the Highways Agency.
But the accident led to long delays for traffic heading for ports and the Channel Tunnel as the M20 was closed in both directions. The major road linking London to the Kent coast is unlikely to reopen until at least lunchtime today.
Photographs showed the remains of the footbridge and damaged vehicles on the carriageway between junctions 3 and 4 in the Borough Green area.
Alex Magaisa was driving with his wife and two young sons just as the bridge collapsed. The University of Kent lecturer, 41, said: ‘My instinct was just to drive through. My wife saw the bridge falling and there was a big noise. I had to manoeuvre my way through the debris. We stopped afterwards for about 30 minutes and there was another car with a family behind us. Luckily no one seemed to have been hurt.
‘It was a big shock. It’s only just starting to sink in now what might have happened.’
It appeared that maintenance work had been in progress on the bridge. Blue nylon netting was draped along the hand rails.
Freelance writer Lucy Fennings, 40, was travelling from London to Kent with her partner and seven-year-old son when she witnessed the drama.
‘I was really worried the bridge was going to collapse on our side as well,’ she said. ‘We were panicking because we were careering across the road trying to avoid hitting the other cars. It was mayhem. It’s miraculous more people weren’t injured.’