Town hall 'cleared' in report on bridge

But traders gave a lukewarm response to the official report on the fiasco yesterday and compared the damage being inflicted on the century-old bridge by the pounding of lorries to boxer Mike Tyson "laying into a pensioner".

One side of the resort was cut off from the other for nine days during the peak holiday season when the crossing got stuck in the open position in July.

Thousands queued for water taxis and shuttle buses on both sides of the River Esk as traders lost tens of thousands of pounds because of the chaos.

In the aftermath, Whitby traders called for a ban on heavy goods traffic over the bridge and a change in policy by Scarborough Council to restrict the number of times the crossing is opened and closed each day to prevent excessive wear and tear.

Locals said that years ago vessels were only granted access every two hours whereas now the bridge is effectively being opened on demand when a yachtsman requires passage up or down the Esk.

A meeting to discuss the findings of two reports into the failure has been rescheduled to Monday to enable more people to attend. But Scarborough Council has revealed the two key findings of the report which effectively clear the town hall of any blame over the incident.

The experts found the gearbox – the part that failed – was well within the bridge operating parameters. It is therefore suspected that a lack of maintenance was not the cause of the failure but a manufacturing flaw might have contributed to it

An inspection when the bridge was closed has suggested that any vibrations caused by traffic are not transmitted to the drive shaft and therefore are not thought to have contributed to the failure.

Coun Peter Popple, Scarborough Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Harbours and Land, said the second of two reports commissioned into the swing bridge failure had now been received from a metal properties expert.

"We now look forward to discussing the ramifications of these reports when we meet next week and we will be looking at how we can work with North Yorkshire County Council in the future to minimise the risk of further problems," he added.

Trader Justin Coope, who runs two chocolate shops on the East side, yesterday remained sceptical. He said: "They would say that wouldn't they? I am hopping mad."

He said it was obvious lorries should not be on the bridge.

On occasions a large bus was followed over by a council bin lorry, placing 30 tonnes of weight on the bridge at one time, he said.

"It speaks for itself. Whatever they say about it not causing vibrations heavy good vehicles pounding away can't be doing it any good whatsoever.

"It is like Mike Tyson laying into an old- age pensioner," he added.

He argued the bridge's overall weight had been increased by road surfacing. "On top of that the bridge is opening and closing

all the time for the yachts," he said.

Traders wanted nothing bigger than small clipper buses to use the swing bridge. Heavier traffic should be forced to use the high-level bridge. It was designed to take traffic away from the town but if there is no requirement for HGV drivers to take that route many of them would do as they liked, he said.

"We still say that weight limit should come down. If the report had said it was the problem they would have had to do it straight away," said Mr Coope.

"We also want Scarborough Council to carry a full supply of spares rather than rely on getting them from Italy because we can't afford for it to happen again."

Anyone wishing to read both reports can find them on the council's website scarborough.gov.uk/whitbyswingbridge under the related documents section, or by request to [email protected].