Humber Bridge

HC Deb 02 April 1980 vol 982 cc271-2W

Mr. Michael Brown

asked the Minister of Transport if he will make a statement on the accident at the Humber bridge.

Mr. Fowler

On 21 March an accident took place at the northern end of the Humber bridge when, as one of the lifting gantries was being moved to a new location, it fell some 250 ft on to the deck sections already in their final position.

The temporary connections on two of the sections were ruptured, permitting the boxes to tilt about their suspension points. They remained suspended from the main cables and both the suspenders and the main cables appear undamaged. The two boxes sustained local damage which can be repaired on site.

Unfortunately, three men working on the bridge at the time of the accident were injured.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated but work on the remainder of the bridge is proceeding normally. It is not expected that this accident will cause a serious delay to the completion of the bridge but the precise extent of the delay cannot be assessed at this stage.