A DRIVER had a lucky escape early on Friday morning after his white van crashed into an historic road bridge near Selkirk.

A large chunk of the parapet of stone-built Broadmeadows Bridge, on the A708 Selkirk to Moffat road east of Yarrowford, was destroyed and deposited in the Yarrow Water below.

The driver and passenger survived with minor injuries and the vehicle, which came to rest teetering perilously above the river, was safely removed.

The incident occurred just two weeks after Scottish Borders Council had completed repairs following a previous accident at the bridge, which is a listed building.

“It is on a bad bend but it is clearly signposted for drivers to slow down,” said Councillor Gordon Edgar (Selkirkshire), who is SBC’s executive member for roads, said said that in this instance, the driver’s insurance would pick up the tab for the bridge repairs. 

“Like so many of our rural roads, the A708 follows old coach and horse routes and it would cost a fortune for this council, which is responsible for around 1,200 bridges, to make them all safer.

“In any case, I firmly believe that dangerous roads are not the problem: it’s dangerous drivers.”

Mr Edgar said that in this instance the driver’s insurance would pick up the tab for the bridge repairs.

“There is much more damage than in the previous incident, so I would expect the work to involve temporary traffic lights for quite a long period,” he added.

Broadmeadows Bridge is on a bad bend, but Councillor Edgar said it was clearly signposted. He added: “Like so many of our rural roads, the A708 follows old coach and horse routes and it would cost a fortune for this council, which is responsible for around 1,200 bridges, to make them all safer.”