Roads Service cleared of blame in trucker’s death

The Roads Service in Northern Ireland has been cleared of all blame over the death of a truck driver, whose vehicle plummeted from the Foyle Bridge in Derry in high winds.

Peter McGuinness, was swept off the bridge during severe storms in January, leading to an outcry over why the bridge wasn’t closed to traffic.

An investigation by a leading bridge consultant says that all safety checks were carried out in accordance with regulations and exonerated the Roads Service from blame.

The investigation found that the Roads Service is obliged to contact the police about closing roads, when weather readings, which are carried out every 10 minutes reach an agreed level.

The “agreed reading” hadn’t been exceeded before the trucker was swept from the bridge, the consultants concluded.