As Black Friday gets underway and Cyber Monday and Christmas just around the corner, the demand for deliveries and large goods vehicles on the road will increase. So Network Rail has issued a plea for the drivers of these vehicles to check the height before making a journey.

Network Rail research shows that 52% of lorry drivers do not take low bridges into account, with 43% not checking the height of their vehicle before setting out on a journey.

In 2018 almost 2,000 bridge strikes occurred, more than 5 a day. On average this caused over 9 hours of delays to rail passengers each day.

This time of the year has more vehicles on the road, with 14 bridge strikes recorded in a single day last year. The Network Rail ‘Wise Up, Size Up’  campaign hope to improve education and provide support to drivers to help reduce the number of bridge strikes.

To find out more about how bridge strikes affect the rail network, click here.

To find out more about the Wise Up, Size Up campaign, click here.

What did the officials say?

Sir Peter Hendy CBE, chair of Network Rail, said: ​

“It’s a very busy time of year for drivers of large goods vehicles, so it’s understandable there may be additional pressure to get to destinations on time, but there is no excuse to not know the height of your vehicle before starting your journey.

“As well as putting lives in danger on both road and rail and causing lengthy delays for passengers and road users, drivers who chance it at bridges are at risk of losing their licenses and leaving their employers with a hefty bill for repairs and train delay costs, along with a strong threat to their own operators licence.

The issue of bridge strikes was raised in the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s annual report to the Secretary of State last month, with the number of bridge strikes condemned as

“unacceptable” and operators warned that regulatory action is a “real possibility” should they fail to take action on reducing them.

The report from the Senior Traffic Commissioner, Richard Turfitt, states:

“Disappointingly, thorough risk-based route planning seems to be a responsibility which operators are leaving to drivers. We have seen instances of drivers not being given conversion charts and also being left to plan routes without access to information that would identify the location of low bridges.

“It is time for operators to treat this seriously and take responsibility, not just leave it to drivers. From the cases referred to us so far, we are astonished by operators’ lackadaisical approach to the prevention of bridge strikes. Beyond the road safety issues, there are huge consequential costs in terms of checking and repair, as well as delays to rail travel which impact passengers and commuters.”

 

Sir Peter commented:

“We welcome and support the comments in the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s report. We’ve had a number of encouraging, productive conversations with industry partners who are keen to work with us to offer improved support and education for drivers, and we will continue to engage with key players in the industry to reduce the risk of bridge strikes. But we also have to support action against companies where they do not honour their obligations to operate safely.”

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