A lorry was left teetering precariously on its side after it got wedged under a Midland Metro bridge. All the trams using the line over Tipton were cancelled for around half-an-hour after the smash just after 8pm last night.
Police also closed off the road while the rescue mission got under way. Watch commander at Wednesbury fire station John Wildman was one of the first at the scene in Great Bridge Road. He said: “The huge container on the back of this lorry was completely stuck and it was all balancing on its left-side wheels.
“I didn’t think twice about ordering the trams to stop. It there was any damage to the tram line we could have been looking at a derailment.”
The trams were stopped for around half-an-hour and continued to run “under caution” for the rest of the night.
The road re-opened at 2.15am this morning. The driver was unhurt.
Mr Wildman said: “The lorry was in quite a dangerous position. Once we checked it we made it as safe as possible and the police came and took over.”
The 13ft 6ins bridge is often the scene of similar accidents, according to Mr Wildman. Fire crews from Wednesbury, Willenhall and West Bromwich, attended.
“I’m just thankful that there wasn’t anyone on the footpath at the time because otherwise we’d have been looking at a fatality,” Mr Wildman added.
Stuart Henry, spokesman for Midland Metro, said: “We apologise to any passengers who were inconvenienced. We tried to do all we could to make sure people were kept safe.”
Passengers on the Midland Metro have been facing disruption getting into Birmingham city centre for the past two days.
Trams from Wolverhampton have had to stop at Handsworth Booth Street, with passengers forced to take the number 79 bus for the rest of their journey due to problems with the overhead power lines between the Jewellery Quarter and Handsworth Booth Street.
A shuttle service has also been operating between the Jewellery Quarter and Birmingham Snow Hill tram stops.
6 Comments
How the heck can this happen?
Another driver who relied on his sat-nap and not his eyes!!
Thankfully no one was injured.
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If you or I were driving a company vehicle and had such an accident - wouldn’t you expect to lose your job at best / lose your licence at worst? After so many incidents there - and such obvious new signs having been put up, it’s not rocket science to see this bridge is low. Police should be prosecuting for driving without due care and attention - think what would have happened to anyone walking along under the bridge at the wrong moment…., or a passing car if the truck had tilted the wrong way.
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anyone who drives a high vehicle should be aware of the height, if any driver wedges their vehicle under a bridge that they shouldn’t have gone under should face an automatic 12 month ban.
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Could of been a simple error eg suspension not dropped on either trailor or unit everyone makes mistakes ohh i forgot car drivers dont!!!!
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Midland Metro should sue the driver for the delays, loss of trade and punative damages. The ploice should ban the drived too for dangeraous driving and driving without dur care and attention. Perhaps then ‘professional drivers’ would be a little more professinal if they were reminded of their responsibilities on the road.
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Since when does the metro run through tipton??
Did i miss something here?
Its goes through wednesbur and west brom
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