Taxpayers to foot £16m repair bill in Forth bridge cuts fiasco

TAXPAYERS have been hit with a £16million bill for repairs which forced the Forth Road Bridge to close just over a year ago.

Commuters faced chaos when the bridge was shut for weeks in the run-up to Christmas 2015 after cracks were found in a steel support.

It has now emerged that the final bill will hit £15.7million.

SNP ministers were criticised over cuts to the repairs budget.

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, said: ‘The decision by the SNP to cut the original budget for short-term gain has cost the taxpayer a lot more in the long term. Thousands of people were very much out of pocket having to find alternatives ways of getting to and from work.’

Latest accounts show the final bill was £9.2million once repairs

‘Thousands left out of pocket’

and extra bus, travel planning and traffic management costs are factored in. About £4million of this went on engineers’ services, with another £2.5million on materials and labour.

However, the fix was only temporary and bridge bosses have now revealed full replacement will cost a further £6.5million, taking the total to £15.7million.

Transport Scotland has recently advertised for a main contractor to replace seven truss end links.

Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘My constituents need confidence that this money will be spent effectively to ensure we don’t face similar disruption.’

The bridge was closed to all traffic on December 4, 2015, after a crack was discovered in a truss end link. It didn’t reopen to HGVs until February 20.

The Scottish Government said: ‘The closure presented an unprecedented, unforeseen challenge. Given the magnitude of disruption, it was vital repairs were carried out as safely, quickly and efficiently as possible.’