The Millennium Bridge between Gateshead and Newcastle was jammed open for several hours because of an electrical fault. The footbridge was designed to tilt upwards to allow boats to pass underneath, but this time it did not close 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.
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