A large piece of masonry was still teetering over the Tinsley Viaduct which carries the M1 motorway after two huge explosions which were supposed to reduce both towers to rubble.

Around 12,000 people packed into the car parks of the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre and for a heart-stopping moment many believed that part of one tower had fallen onto the carriageway.

But as the dust cleared it became apparent that the nitro-glycerin charges had failed to destroy part of one tower.

A spokeswoman for owner E.ON said that both towers had been fully demolished by 5.20am.

The Highways Agency closed the M1 from midnight last night and hope to reopen it later today.

E.ON spokeswoman Emily Highmore said: "The towers are completely down now and the demolition has been carried out as planned. The site is now completely safe.

"One tower came down completely as expected and then there was about one third of the other one left standing, but angled away from the viaduct, as the demolition experts designed it to.

"People were looking at it saying are we supposed to be able to see it, but the demolition crew went to the site and manipulated what remained so that it has now completely come down."

The motorway reopened at 6pm.

YP photos by Chris Lawton.
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