A lorry smashed into the A325 Wrecclesham railway bridge last week – just days after work began to paint new yellow chevrons on the notorious structure.

Surrey County Council all-but ruled out a major engineering solution to stop HGVs striking the bridge in June, dismissing proposals such as a lowering of the A325 or a perpendicular 'bash beam' as too costly or disruptive to existing traffic flows.

Instead, the council said a lick of paint would be enough to deter over-height HGVs, with Network Rail workers arriving to paint new chevrons on the bridge earlier this month.

However, these hopes were quickly smashed on Wednesday last week when an HGV struck the boom on the southern side of the bridge at around 2pm, peeling off its roof like a sardine can and buckling the metal trailer backwards.

The goods vehicle was owned by truck-mounted forklift operator Dorling Transport, based at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

Andrew Marsh, who took the above picture, said he was just about to walk under the bridge when the HGV hit the structure.

“Fortunately nobody was injured,” he added, "but even though work is underway on the bridge this is yet another incident on this dangerous stretch of road."