Crash renews call for traffic controls at Oxford toll bridge

The accident again caused delays in the surrounding areas as the privately-owned bridge at Eynsham was shut for 25 minutes.

Last summer the bridge was blocked by a minor collision between two large vehicles which became jammed together as they tried to pass each other while going in opposite directions.

The incident caused long tailbacks in both directions.

Sharing pictures of the latest incident on Facebook, a poster said: "We could have done with a few more to lift the trailer, so never be afraid to go and have a look.

"A lot of people would have been knackered if we hadn't had a go."

Thanking him for his efforts, another poster added: "The worst offenders on this bridge are cars that drive over 4ft away from the kerb as they’ve got no idea how wide their cars are.

"I don't understand why larger than car vehicles don't stop when they see something else coming over, and cars stop to let larger vehicles over and therefore avoid getting stuck."

One poster suggested a traffic light system to control entry to the bridge for buses and wide loads.

The bridge, which costs 5p for cars, is frequently blamed for causing queues especially during rush hour.

Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for the road network, has accepted that toll collection causes delays at peak times of day.

But a campaign calling for the county council to buy it was unsuccessful as the council could not afford it.

According to Land Registry documents, the bridge is owned by Robert Standing, of 10 Grosvenor Street, London, who bought it for £1.8million in 2010.

Eynsham and Cassington district councillor Dan Levy, said the shared the concern about delays "though I also think that queues are often caused by the narrowness of the road and we frequently see lorries hit each other on the bridge".

He said: "I think it would be sensible to have a weight limit, probably through Farmoor, to limit HGVs from the bridge.  That would cut the queue times considerably, and protect the historic bridge from unnecessary damage."

He added that the creation of the long-awaited bike route along the B4044 to Botley would help get people out of their cars and recommended the 'excellent' S1 bus into Oxford.

Meanwhile other critics have suggested that traffic queues may be leading to air pollution.

West Oxfordshire District Council has no air quality monitoring receptor points at the site.

A spokesperson said: "Whilst there will be busy times at the bridge, there are also times where traffic flows freely and without delay, therefore air quality monitoring wouldn’t provide accurate data."

Karen Coventry, commercial and marketing director, Stagecoach West,  said: “The side of one of our buses operating on the E1 route incurred minor damage resulting from contact with a van towing a trailer on Swinford Toll Bridge on Thursday May 16, just before 6pm. 

"Traffic was halted for around 25 minutes while the incident was resolved and both vehicles safely moved off the bridge.

"No passengers were hurt."

She added: “Incidents such as this are rare as all Stagecoach West drivers are trained to our very high standards.  

"Drivers are familiar with the routes they serve and, in this instance, how to navigate the bridge safely – they are trained not to enter if a wide vehicle is already there. 

"However, if the bus is already making its way across no system is in place to prevent a wide vehicle from entering from the opposite direction."

And she said while there were sometimes delays on the bridge due to tolls being collected and traffic conditions "these are factored into our timetabling scheduling, especially taking rush hours into account".