RAIL bosses have called for lorry drivers to know the height of their vehicles to avoid crashing into railway bridges and causing hours of delays to train passengers.

New figures from Network Rail reveal October and November see around 10 incidents reported every day across Britain with almost 2,000 bridge strikes every year costing the taxpayer some £23m in damages and delays.

Walkden Road Bridge, in Walkden, is listed as the second most bashed bridge in Greater Manchester, after being hit 41 times since 2009.

The most bashed bridge in the Greater Manchester area is currently Ashton  Road bridge, Bredbury, which has been hit 46 times since 2009. 

Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail and a driver of a double decker bus himself, said: “Size does matter when you’re a professional driver in a heavy vehicle. Not knowing the size of your vehicle or load could lead to a serious accident, and the loss of your licence.

“Every incident creates potential delay for tens of thousands of passengers and potential costs for taxpayers, and this is happening multiple times a day.

“It’s only a matter of time before road or rail users are killed as a result of this carelessness; we need professional HGV drivers and their operator employers to get behind and support this campaign to eradicate bridge bashing, which reaches epidemic levels at this time of year.”