Man charged after overturned lorry forces Forth Road Bridge closure

The bridge is likely to remain closed for some time.

Published 11th Jan 2017

A man has been charged after a lorry was blown over in strong winds, leading to the closure of the Forth Road Bridge.

The incident happened at about 2am.

No-one was injured but the bridge is likely to remain closed for some time as high winds hamper recovery efforts.

The bridge operators said it was closed to high-sided vehicles at the time of the incident.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: A 54-year-old man has been charged following a collision on the Forth Road Bridge at around 2am on January 11.

A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.'' High winds have brought travel disruption and power cuts as they buffet parts of the country.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings of wind and snow for Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland on Wednesday.

The bridge operators said they are working to reopen the route as soon as possible.

Mark Arndt, Amey's operating company representative for the Forth Road Bridge, said: It's most likely that we'll be able to reopen one lane of the northbound carriageway later today, however we will need a crane to remove the HGV from the southbound carriageway, and this work is highly dependent on the prevailing wind speeds.

We are continuing to monitor the forecast and have a team mobilised and ready to respond as soon as it is safe to do so, but it is very likely the bridge will remain closed through the morning peak.

We know that closing the bridge has a serious impact on people's journeys and it's regretful that this situation has arisen.''