By Chris Hardy

MONTROSE YOUNGSTERS are putting their lives at risk by playing on the new Montrose Bridge which spans one of Scotland’s fastest flowing estuaries.

Their antics have alarmed local residents who have watched them clamber up the rock armour around the base of the bridge’s north foreshore abutment and on to the service pipes underneath.

“The new concrete abutments seem to offer a sheltered spot to sit under,” said a concerned resident.

“I have seen small groups of youngsters, in their early to mid-teens, gather there and crawl out along the service pipes and steel beams. It appears to be a regular meeting place—they leave behind their crisps bags and drinks cans.”

At low water the underside of the bridge is about 15 feet above the rocky foreshore and when the tides are coming in or going out the river is recognised as one of the fastest in the country.

Montrose Port Authority chief executive Capt Harry Johansen said he was extremely concerned to learn that school children were climbing under the bridge.

“On the ebb tide the current is in excess of six and a half knots and on the incoming tide it is 4-5 knots,” he said.

“If they fall into the river they would be sucked down by the strong current and who knows where they might end up. People have fallen into the river in the past and I have heard of one person whose body was later found at the Forth.”

Local councillor Mark Salmond has alerted the police who will be making regular checks of the area and may consider visiting nearby schools to warn the pupils of the dangers.

He has also spoken to Angus roads department which is to look at the possibility of erecting fencing.

“I would also like to see warning signs,” said Mr Salmond.

Darryl White, the coastguard’s Montrose area sector manager, has backed the idea of some form of safety barrier to prevent access.

“The speed of the flow there frightens me when I see it. I don’t think the deployment of rescue aids would be any good,” he said.

“The council can’t keep up with the vandalism to rescue aids elsewhere and in any case the river is so swift that anyone falling in would probably be hauled under before any aid could be used.”