22.08.2023

Bridge truly bashed

A van mounted lift crashed into railway bridge in Dronfield, Derbyshire, just south of Sheffield, in the UK.

The platform - a 12.5 metre Versalift Eurotel 36NF platform - was heading under the 4.4 metre high bridge when the platform’s boom pivot point struck and caught on the bridge.
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The van mounted lift shortly after the fire service arrived - all photos courtesy of Dronfield Fire Station

Normally this type of van mount on Mercedes has an overall height of around 3.5 metres, which had us scratching our heads. A little investigation soon revealed that the van had broken down early and was travelling on the back of a recovery truck, which clearly headed under the bridge with some speed.
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Thankfully no one was in the van and the truck driver was probably unaware of the situation until the bridge was well behind him. Thankfully no one else was involved and the bridge was undamaged. The incident occurred around midnight on Saturday.
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The local Dronfield fire station, part of the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, quickly came to the rescue and carefully brought the lift down. Quite how it managed that we do not yet know. We will update this item if and when we find out. Network Rail checked the bridge and the tracks and gave the all-clear before trains were due to start running next morning.

A lesson, perhaps, in how all is not necessarily as it at first seems.