2 days ago
Driver's insurer to cover £50k repair costs to Lydney bridge
Nearly £50,000 in costs to repair a bridge destroyed in a car crash will be recovered from the driver's insurance company. The unnamed driver was taken to hospital for an ankle injury after hitting the flood-damaged Newerne Street Bridge, in the centre of Lydney, Gloucestershire, in driver had ignored road closure signs put in place days earlier to protect the fragile bridge, causing "significant damage" when they hit the weakest part of it. By January, however, the bridge had been partly reopened after repairs. In June, it reopened fully, with repair work completed.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the bridge was damaged during Storm Bert, which wreaked havoc on Lydney in properties and 32 businesses were flooded, and the damage took months to driver's vehicle reportedly hit the part of the bridge that had "water pouring through" it during the floods.
A report presented to Forest of Dean District Council last month stated that most of the £50,000 repair costs will be recovered from the driver's report was commissioned after councillors raised concerns over the authority's emergency response to the a meeting on 17 July, officers said response plans have since been reviewed, and a new emergency response team and liaison roles have been established.
