A lorry driver narrowly avoided a 35ft drop over an Angus bridge, after his trailer tipped onto the road.
Emergency services personnel were called to the A-listed Lower Northwater Bridge, on the A92 near Montrose, after the HGV shed its load at 12.30pm on Tuesday.
The driver was unhurt but was just metres from being dragged into the river North Esk after the trailer came to rest on the bridge.
A section of the historic stone structure which underwent a £650,000 restoration in 2008 was broken during the accident, and structural engineers were called to assess its safety. The road was blocked in both directions, with motorists diverted onto the A937 Hillside Road.
A specialist recovery vehicle was sent to pick up the lorry and its load of large logs, which landed in a field under the bridge.
The plain green vehicle did not bear any company logo, but it is thought the driver may have been heading to Montrose port. The bridge is near the border of Angus and the Mearns and both Tayside and Grampian police were in attendance.
An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: ”It looks as though the lorry had been heading south over the bridge and it would have had the right of way over anything coming from Angus direction.
”It seems like it might have had to swerve for another vehicle coming past. The timber has been spilled off the trailer and onto the road. Some of it went over the side of the bridge and into a field.
”The trailer has gone over on its side and completely blocked the road in both directions.”
They added: ”There is a hole in the wall of the bridge and the trailer is going to have to be lifted off before anything else happens. It is not that long since the bridge had major work done to it.”
Historic Scotland gave a grant for a quarter of the bridge’s restoration cost. The remaining funds were split equally between Angus and Aberdeenshire councils.
Makers UK carried out the work, which was completed in two phases, including removal of the mortar and repointing. Some of the weathered stones were replaced, railings and other metalwork were painted, and conservation work was carried out on the descriptive monuments.
The work uncovered an old tollhouse that had been completely hidden by vegetation for around 50 years.
In September last year a lorry driver was thrown through his windscreen and onto a verge after his vehicle overturned on its approach to the bridge.
The articulated HGV toppled near the Hillside junction, two miles north of Montrose, above an embankment overlooking the North Esk.
There have been a number of accidents at the location, although it is not considered an accident blackspot by police.