M-20 Bridge Collapse Motorway Travel Chaos As Biker Injured

A digger being carried by a lorry smashes into a footbridge, causing long delays on one of the year's busiest travel days.

A motorcyclist has been taken to hospital with suspected broken ribs after a pedestrian bridge collapsed on the M-20 in Kent.

Kent Police and Highways England have confirmed the bridge was brought down by a digger being transported on the back of a lorry.

It happened between junctions 4 and 3, on the London-bound carriageway northwest of Maidstone, at around midday.

Police said that part of the bridge had fallen onto a second lorry and that the driver of that lorry had been treated at the scene for shock

The injured motorcyclist, who is in his 50s, was taken to hospital in Tunbridge Wells, South East Coast Ambulance Service said.

His injuries were not life-threatening.

Video footage shows the top of a lorry's trailer sheared off, and debris littering the carriageway, while aerial pictures filmed by Sky News show one half of the bridge completely collapsed.

University lecturer Alex Magaisa was driving past the lorry involved when the bridge came down.

He, his wife and their two young sons were on their way to Gatwick Airport and then Belfast to visit family.

Mr Magaisa, 41, said: "My instinct was just to drive through.

"My wife saw the bridge falling and there was a big noise.

"I had to manoeuvre through the debris."

He said the collapse was "a big shock", adding: "We were right in the line of fire and we could have been crushed."

Kalpana Fitzpatrick, who had been driving on the motorway, told Sky News from the scene: "What we can see is two trucks squashed by this bridge and emergency services are at the scene.

"There are quite a lot of people just walking around the motorway not knowing what is going on.

"The side I'm on, the bridge is still hanging, and obviously the traffic has been stopped. It's quite shocking."

The M20 is the main route to the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel and the stretch of road where the accident happened is expected to be closed until at least lunchtime Sunday.

Highways England said that this closure would affect the M20 between junctions two and four but that tailbacks, earlier reported to be as long as 4.5 miles, had now shortened.

The M26 is also likely to remain closed until the area is cleared.

South east operations manager Gary Coleman said crews would work through the night in an effort to prepare the road for Sunday's traffic.

He said: "We are facing a real challenge to life two HGVs and a motorbike clear of the scene and deal with all of the rubble from the collapsed bridge strewn across both carriageways.

"There is also the issue of the remaining part of the footbridge, which is still in place over the coast-bound side of the motorway."

He asked for drivers to be patient while workers undertook "a complex operation" that would "take time and skill to complete".

Meanwhile, various diversions have been put in place.

SkyNews report