Millennium Bridge jammed open because of fault

The Millennium Bridge over the River Tyne is back open after engineers found a fix for an electrical fault, which had left it jammed open.

Earlier, a spokesman said the broken bridge would be stuck overnight, but less than an hour later, engineers managed to lower the bridge.

The Millennium Bridge over the River Tyne will be stuck in its upright position all night, after engineers failed to repair an electrical fault.

Gateshead Council had thought the footbridge, between Gateshead and Newcastle, could be manually lowered in time for the evening commute.

However, further investigations revealed that the fault which left it jammed open is also affecting its emergency procedures. They hope to fix the problem tomorrow.

Until then, commuters on foot and by bicycle who normally use the Millennium Bridge will have to use the Swing Bridge, a 10-minute walk away.

Engineers have failed to find the source of an electrical fault causing the Millennium Bridge to be stuck open for several hours, but are beginning the process of manually lowering the footbridge instead.

A spokesman for Gateshead Council said the process was "not straightforward", but it should be back in its normal position by 5pm, in time for pedestrians and cyclists commuting home from work.

The bridge tilted up as normal at 1:30pm to allow river traffic to pass underneath, but did not come back down again as it should and has been jammed open for several hours.

Gateshead Council have confirmed that the Millennium Bridge, over the River Tyne, has an electrical fault. The footbridge tilted open at 1:30pm this afternoon but did not come back down again.

The Millennium footbridge between Gateshead and Newcastle appears to have broken in its tilted up position, meaning pedestrians will not be able to walk across it.

The bridge was scheduled to tilt up at 1:30pm this afternoon, but has not come back down again. A spokesman for Gateshead Council said this was not planned and engineers were on their way to identify the problem.

The bridge was designed to tilt upwards to allow boats to pass underneath and normally does so several times a month, and daily over the summer. The first time it did so, in June 2001, 36,000 people lined the banks of the River Tyne to watch.

Each opening and closing normally takes just four and a half minutes.