A MEDIEVAL bridge is at risk of collapse under the weight of heavy lorries ignoring weight restrictions, residents claim.

Karen Shaw says heavy goods vehicles, including those supplying building materials to Kier at Wyvern College, are breaking the law by ignoring the bridge’s 7.5 ton weight limit.

One unknown lorry has already knocked a half-ton cap stone off the medieval bridge.

Karen blasted the “appalling” attitude of Kier’s head office, saying staff had denied any responsibility as the drivers were not company employees.

She said she had visited the site and spoken to a security guard, who she said was “equally unhelpful” and had tried to blame the problem on foreign drivers.

“Someone has to be responsible for the behaviour of vehicles delivering to the site, and in my view, that should be the main contractor,” said Karen.

“Such large lorries are a nuisance and potential hazard to residents as they cut through a residential area not designed for such traffic and they risk damaging the bridge by being too wide and too heavy.

“They then clog Milford Mill Road and cause traffic chaos as it's a single track road, then, more often than not, they cause damage to the railway bridge at the park-and ride-end of the road before rejoining the A36.”

Karen said “far more rigorous” signage needed to be put in place.

Milford Preservation Group has been campaigning against heavy goods vehicles using the notorious rat-run for five years.

“We are also concerned about levels of traffic on this un-lit, narrow and badly-surfaced road,” said chairman Alan Hotchkiss, adding that traffic levels had more than doubled in five years.

Wyvern head Paul German said he would do all he could to ensure contractors were “respectful of transport and environmental issues".

Kier said it was “disappointed” that, despite efforts to ensure all site vehicles followed designated routes, a small number of drivers were following sat-nav instructions, leading them a different way.

The firm said it had permission from Wiltshire Council to put up extra signs on minor roads and had asked the Highways Agency for further signage on the A36.