Millennium Bridge workers hang straw bales after ancient bylaw triggered

[dutchman]

Repairs to footbridge mean straw must be dangled to warn oncoming shipping of work going on beneath



Workers on London’s Millennium Bridge are hanging a bale of straw under the structure after triggering an ancient bylaw.

Repair works to the footbridge mean straw must be dangled to warn oncoming boats of the work going on beneath it.

The large bale, which these days is lowered on climbing rope by workers in hi-vis jackets, is intended to alert river traffic of the reduced headroom.

Urgent repair and cleaning work means the bridge was closed on Saturday for three weeks, until 5 November.

According to the Port of London Thames Byelaws, clause 36.2: “When the headroom of an arch or span of a bridge is reduced from its usual limits, but that arch or span is not closed to navigation, the person in control of the bridge must suspend from the centre of that arch or span by day a bundle of straw large enough to be conspicuous and by night a white light.”

“This is one of those quirky traditions London is famous for, but it also does serve a practical purpose, to warn shipping when the headroom under a bridge span is reduced,” a City Bridge Foundation spokesperson told City AM.

“The bundle of straw is lowered by our contractor when they’re doing work under the bridge, in this case to install netting ahead of work to replace the separation layer between the aluminium bridge deck and the steel structure underneath.

[rebbonk]

The nannying continues!

[dutchman]

I don't know if it's still true but for many years London taxi drivers were required to carry a bale of straw in the boot in order to feed the non-existent horses.