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‘The Cut' bridge in Banbridge suffers yet another close shave but is still standing

After police revealed details of the latest lorry to fail to make 'The Cut' in Banbridge, Gary McDonald asks how many more close shaves the bridge can take

Despite warning signs, The Cut in Banbridge has taken another knock from a lorry
Despite warning signs, The Cut in Banbridge has taken another knock from a lorry Despite warning signs, The Cut in Banbridge has taken another knock from a lorry

TWO drivers in just two days have sliced the tops of their lorries while trying to negotiate The Cut in Banbridge.

The latest collision happened at around 9.30pmon Monday, just a day after another driver damaged his lorry and did not notice the damage until after he had driven a further 10 miles towards Portadown, Co Armagh.

A crowd gathered by the bridge on Monday night as police worked for more than half an hour to help free the lorry.

The collisions happened despite prominent signs warning that vehicles above 11 feet 6 inches (3.5 metres) in height should detour around the 19th century brick structure.

They was the latest in a long line of smacks into The Cut, reputedly one of the first fly-overs in Europe when it was built by famous Irish road and rail engineer William Dargan in 1834.

And the latest incident may hasten calls for the route to be restricted to cars only, thus taking commercial vehicles away from the town altogether.

The Cut, which is straddled by Downshire Bridge (sometimes also referred to as Jingler's Bridge after a lady called '˜The Lurgan Jingler' who kept an apple stall there in the 1800s), was carved through the centre of Banbridge to give easier passage to horse and carts making the journey from Belfast to Dublin.

A crowd gathered by the bridge on Monday night as police worked for more than half an hour to help free the lorry 
A crowd gathered by the bridge on Monday night as police worked for more than half an hour to help free the lorry  A crowd gathered by the bridge on Monday night as police worked for more than half an hour to help free the lorry 

It was an engineering marvel in its day, completed at an expense, including the erection of the viaduct and the formation of its approaches, of £19,000 – a phenomenal sum at the time.

Indeed The Cut and its approaches provide a feature that makes Banbridge like no other town in Ireland.

But with the advent of modern transport, drivers of high-sided vehicles have been caught out down the years.

Indeed one of my first stories as a trainee journalist in the Banbridge Chronicle in the late 1970s was to report on how the entire top deck of a double decker bus was literally sliced off, injuring a number of people including children. Thankfully there were no fatalities.

The PSNI posted an image of the damage caused to the lorry
The PSNI posted an image of the damage caused to the lorry The PSNI posted an image of the damage caused to the lorry

On another occasion a lorry got completely stuck under the bridge, and it took engineers the best part of a day to dislodge it (letting the tyres down proved the ultimate solution).

Indeed the Chronicle office at that time overlooked The Cut, and crashes into the bridge were an every three- or four-month occurrence, with damage invariably caused to the lorries as well as the drivers' ego.

Such is the sturdy brick structure of the bridge that it has always remained standing. But how many more knocks can The Cut take?