Whitby Swing Bridge breaks down again - leaving harbour 'paralysed'

The bridge stopped working again on Sunday (December 19) when it stuck, trapping a charter boar bound for Scotland in the upper harbour.

Whitby's Town Mayor, Councillor Linda Wild, expressed her dismay that the historic bridge had broken once again, despite highway bosses from North Yorkshire County Council declaring the problems which beset the bridge in the summer were over.

She said the harbour was 'paralysed' and that it has effectively delayed Christmas for some members of the fishing community.

Coun Wild said: "The swing bridge is broken and will not open. They can’t repair it until Tuesday. It goes to show they haven’t fixed the issue at all they just got lucky for a few months. I feel like we have been patted on the head and fobbed off in the hope that we would stop making a fuss.

"With less than a week to Christmas, here we are again. The town is split in two and the Harbour is paralysed. It's effectively delaying Christmas for some of the fishing community as they return home this week. It's just not acceptable."

This summer, the century-old structure broke a number of times as thousands of people descended upon the town for a staycation in the wake of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the managers of Whitby Swing Bridge said in September that there are no long-term mechanical defects to the structure but that it will need to be greased more often.

The Swing Bridge broke down and became stuck in the 'up' position on September 16, exactly two months after a previous breakdown on July 16, when replacement buses had to be used to ferry visitors across the River Esk.