By Aileen Robertson

THE FORTH Road Bridge was closed because of an overturned lorry for the second time this year amid a row about severe weather traffic restrictions on the crossing.

Both carriageways were shut at 11.15am yesterday after a curtain-sided heavy vehicle travelling north toppled across the central reservation.

The driver was taken to Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline —however, his injuries were not serious.

At the time the bridge was closed to double decker buses but not to lorries because wind speeds were not exceeding 50mph.

However, wind graphs kept by bridge operator Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) showed the vehicle had been hit by a freak 68mph gust of wind.

An almost identical incident happened on the bridge on January 31 when an HGV crossing to Fife was caught by a freak gust of exactly the same magnitude and fell on to the central reservation.

It happened at around 6am and because windy conditions persisted throughout the day the trailer could not be recovered until after 10pm—causing chaos on the surrounding roads network.

However, a FETA spokesman said because conditions were less windy this time around, a recovery vehicle was able to clear the carriageway more quickly.

The southbound carriageway was open again at 2.30pm. However, there was a delay on the northbound side because of damage to the central reservation and it was opened at 4pm.

FETA said it would be reviewing its severe weather procedures as a result of the incidents.

The spokesman confirmed the lorry driver had not flouted any restrictions because the bridge had been open to lorries at the time.

However, the incident has served as a reminder to lorry drivers who ignore warnings when there are HGV restrictions on the bridge and it coincided with politicians speaking out on the issue.

Dunfermline and West Fife MP Willie Rennie urged Lothian and Borders Police to do more to prevent heavy vehicles leaving the south side of the bridge while there are restrictions.

“Irate commuters travelling back home after a hard day’s work are demanding action to resolve this problem,” he said.

“Relief that the tolls have been abolished has been replaced by despair at the massive queues.

“Lothian Police must put more resources into this problem by placing police checks further back up the roads leading to the bridge.

“Stopping these lorries at an earlier stage will allow them to be diverted, which would have little effect on the traffic.

“Waiting until the lorries get to the bridge is far too late as turning the lorries around holds up the traffic and results in chaos.

“We may also need to review the law so lorry drivers who ignore warning signs can be prosecuted for their irresponsible behaviour.

“The clear message to lorry drivers is: heed the signs, obey the warnings.”

Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Claire Baker said the Scottish Government should have anticipated the problems before removing tolls from the bridge.

“Removing the toll barriers from the Forth Road Bridge was always going to make the enforcement of weight, weather and speed restrictions much more problematic,” she said.

“With the recent bad weather Lothian and Borders Police officers were forced to stand in the road 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 and the SNP should have thought about this way before it came to removing the toll booths, never mind a full month after.”

Transport minister Stewart Stevenson responded by stating that traffic management at the bridge was FETA’s responsibility.

The FETA spokesman added that they were working with police to find a solution to the problem.

“Today’s incident would have happened before the tolls were taken off because we would not have held the vehicle back,” he said.

“We can’t always eliminate risk.”