THE troubled Twin Sails Bridge is continuing to cause concern as access is barred by unexpected problems.

Since its delayed opening to traffic on April 4 there has been a catalogue of niggling difficulties with the road barriers and control system.

“The bridge is still troublesome,” said Fred Winwood of Hamside Residents Association and former Poole Mayor, who is concerned about financial liability. “Hopefully the council has not taken it over.”

Borough of Poole did take over the £21.6million bridge when it opened to road traffic, but there is a 12-month defect period for which the contractor is responsible.

Borough of Poole said it could not supply the Daily Echo with a list of closures, but we can catalogue some that we have reported on (see panel).

The incident on May 21 saw motorists having to queue to funnel over the old Poole Bridge after the barriers failed to rise, closing it to traffic during the evening peak period from 3.30pm to 6.30pm.

Drivers did U-turns as the minutes ticked away and the barriers remained stubbornly blocking the road and later a Borough of Poole vehicle shut off access to the bridge from Bay Hog Lane.

Cyclist Jonathan Canavan, 17, of Canford Heath waited half-an-hour on the Hamworthy side for the barriers to rise before giving up and peddling round to the old lifting bridge.

“It’s happened a few times before,” he said. “Two or three days ago it stayed down for about 20 minutes. I go to visit my Gran in Hamworthy a few times a week.

“I’ll probably go across the old bridge in future.”

In earlier problems, one of the barriers broke and had to be replaced. Then there was an overnight closure for adjustments.

Cllr Mark Howell, who represents the town centre for Poole People, said: “I live very close to it. There was a big queue recently when both bridges were open at the same time to boats.”

John Rice, Borough of Poole engineering and maintenance manager, said: “We have experienced some problems with the traffic barriers since the Twin Sails Bridge opened and our contractor and their suppliers are working with us to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.

“Tests conducted on one of the barriers have proved successful and, as a result, control valves used to raise and lower all the barriers will be replaced.

“We anticipate that this work and adjustments to the bridge’s hydraulic system will be completed in the next four weeks.

“We are confident there will be no significant impact on the normal operation of the bridge during this period.”

l The Daily Echo has submitted an FOI request to Borough of Poole seeking details of all closures that have disrupted road and marine traffic.