MSP calls for bridge wind changes

Claire Baker said previously the toll booths stopped lorries crossing

The Scottish Government has been accused of incompetence for having no system to stop lorries crossing the Forth Road Bridge in high winds.

Labour MSP Claire Baker said a working group to address the issue had only just been set up, nine months after the bill to scrap tolls was put forward.

On Wednesday the bridge was closed after a lorry overturned in winds.

A Government spokesman said it was up to the bridge authority and the police to implement traffic restrictions.

Miss Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said previously the toll booths had been used as a filter to stop high-sided vehicles accessing the bridge.

Police officers were forced to stand in the road, in poor weather conditions, to try to filter high-sided vehicles Claire Baker MSP

She said no thought had gone into what should happen once the toll barriers were removed and local police officers had been forced to set-up impromptu road-blocks.

Miss Baker has written to the Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson to ask how the government now plans to stop lorries.

In his response, Mr Stevenson said the responsibility was with the Forth Estuary Transport Authority and that a working group had been set up.

Miss Baker said: "It seems to have only now dawned on the SNP that a new plan would need to be put in place and only now are the SNP and government authorities getting together to try to sort this out.

"Police officers were forced to stand in the road, in poor weather conditions, to try to filter high-sided vehicles out of the queues crossing the bridge, threatening their safety and diverting them from their usual jobs.

"This is not an acceptable solution."

'Freak gust'

The Scottish Government has insisted Wednesday's accident, which closed the bridge, could not have been prevented.

A spokesman said: "Traffic restrictions were not in place at the time this vehicle overturned - nor at the time of the similar incident on 31 January. On both occasions, the vehicle was hit by a freak gust of wind.

"Feta had responsibility for making decisions on when to impose such restrictions. However, it is, and always has been, the responsibility of the police to enforce.

"Only the police have the power to stop vehicles ignoring these restrictions.

"That was the case before tolls were abolished, and that continues to be the case now that tolls have been abolished."

The spokesman also pointed out that physical barriers have not been in place on the southbound carriageway for about a decade.