London’s Tower Bridge still closed to vehicles after mechanical fault

Tower Bridge remains closed to vehicles after it was stuck open on Saturday because of a mechanical fault.

The London landmark’s Twitter account confirmed that only pedestrians and cyclists could use it on Sunday morning, adding to the closure of several other of the capital’s Thames crossings.

The bridges at Hammersmith and Vauxhall in west London are closed to most motorised traffic for maintenance work, and London Bridge in the city centre is only open to buses, licensed taxis and bicycles.

City of London police urged motorists to find alternative routes because of the ongoing problems at Tower Bridge.

Traffic in central London was gridlocked on Saturday when the bridge failed to close after allowing a ship to pass along the Thames. Queues of motorists and pedestrians were left waiting for at least an hour from both directions.

“According to the security radios we overheard there are multiple failures,” one witness said.

City of London police said engineers rushed to fix the bridge, which connects the Square Mile financial district with Southwark..

Police closed the bridge for 10 hours in 2005 after a technical problem meant the arms could not be lowered.