Motorists have been telling of their fears as huge chunks of ice hit their vehicles while they crossed the bridge on Monday.
The Queensferry Crossing was shut in both directions due to falling ice on Monday evening after eight cars were left damaged. It came as much of Scotland was hit by freezing weather and heavy snow.
The bridge remains closed until Wednesday afternoon amid weather warnings for ice and snow.
Martin Aitchison, 51, said he had a fright when a piece of ice fell on his work van, damaging his windscreen.
The joiner was heading home to South Queensferry from a job in Fife at 4.35pm, and was underneath the north stanchion of the bridge.
He said: “There was a huge bang and the windscreen has blown.
“I drove on another 200 to 300 yards and stopped just behind an Amey truck. The guy who was there started pointing up at the bridge.”
After stopping, Mr Aitchison went to the Amey office at the Forth Bridge and saw another two vehicles on trucks and another motorist driving behind.
He said: “There were four drivers in there in the space of about 30 minutes.
“To be fair, the Amey guys were pretty good. The first thing they asked was whether I needed towed.”
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Stuart Prentice, 40, saw another driver have a narrow escape as a foot-long chunk of ice just missed his car.
The Methil man was one of the last to cross the bridge southbound before it was closed when he saw the incident involving the car in front of him.
“I could see a few blocks of ice falling and one of them landed just behind the car in front of me,” he said. “There were three or four chunks in one go and I could see other bits at the side of the road that had clearly smashed.
“We were already on the bridge so we had no choice but to carry on.”
Teacher JP Ward’s car was hit by falling snow and ice as he drove through blizzards from Dalgety Bay.
He told the BBC: “I saw big white blocks falling from the bridge, thinking it was snow.
“The blocks were ranging from the size of small coffee tables to footballs, but they were as thick as phone books.”
Mr Ward’s car roof was hit by what he described as an ice block that sounded like a loud thundering bang.
“In my view, the bridge should have been closed hours earlier and I am glad to be in one piece,” he said.
