Refurbished Big Ben takes a bashing as the scaffolding starts to come down
VIDEO HAS emerged that appears to show a huge scaffolding structure striking Big Ben just days after its £80m makeover was revealed.
Sarah Haynes, 50, caught the moment the latticework of metal seemed to hit the London landmark.
She said: “We could see they were trying to remove this massive piece of scaffolding. It kept hitting the building, which has just been renovated for millions.
“It hit the tower and we didn’t see anything fall but it made quite a thump.”
Renovations started on Big Ben in 2017 and the project – initially expected to cost £29m – eventually reached a price tag of £80m.
The bell could be heard for the first time since restorations began on New Year’s Eve.
Now the clock and tower have finally been fully revealed to the public again – but, as this incident shows, the hard work is not over yet.
Ms Haynes, from Ashbyde-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, said: “We were in London for a weekend away and visited the Houses of Parliament for a tour.
“As we were leaving we could see all the builders looking up and the odd workman running around looking frantic.
“There was a man in a cherry picker which was as high as they could get it and he was leaning over the edge pushing it away from the building.
“It kept looking like it was going to hit the building again but he was quite good at pushing it away.
“It’s been tarted up for years and has been revealed just in time for the Platinum Jubilee and yet this bit of scaffolding kept hitting it on the way down.
“It took a long time but eventually they managed to get it down.”
The video was shot last Saturday.
A spokesman for the Houses of Parliament has said that by May the Elizabeth Tower will be free of scaffolding, nearly four years after the structure was first fully enclosed.