Campaigners seek A519 lorry-ban after canal bridge is damaged

A chemical spill and damage to a bridge is further proof that lorries should not be using the A519 near Newport, road campaigners have claimed.

Members of The Truth Campaign, which is battling to stop four million vehicles a year using the road through Woodseaves, said that the incidents were just the latest in a long list to cause them concerns.

A truck carrying chemicals dropped concentrated fertiliser onto the road on Saturday, and last week a lorry crashed into High Bridge over the canal.

Campaigner Leigh Banks warned that the next vehicle to hit the wall on the bridge could plunge 40ft as it had been weakened.

Mr Banks said: "It's absolutely shameful and should be criminal that Staffordshire County Council has deliberately and woefully ignored the warnings from people along the A519 that this bridge is a danger, particularly when more than 100,000 vehicles a day are thundering across it.

"And now it's happened, something has smashed into it. This one didn't go through but the structure is so badly weakened that the next one will – and they are still ignoring it."

The High Bridge is the responsibility of British Waterways.

The campaigners are battling for a weight limit to be imposed on the A519 and for vehicles to be encouraged onto the A518 instead.

A spokesperson for the council said: "The situation on the A518 and A519 is something that is causing concern and we are keen to investigate it."

The council said that automatic counting equipment had been installed on the A518 and A519 to record the flow of vehicles 24 hours a day for one week.

Mr Banks added: "The county council doesn't know what to do. They know the HGVs using the A519 are on the wrong road but they also know that if they force it back onto the A518, the designated route, then they will devastate Stafford town centre."

A spokesperson from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue said that they attended the scene of the chemical spill at about 4pm on Saturday.