A YORK railway bridge has been struck by lorries 14 times in the past five years - delaying both rail passengers and motorists.

Network Rail revealed the figure for the bridge in Leeman Road as it launched a campaign urging drivers and haulage companies to be aware of low bridges.

It said thousands of rail passengers will suffer delays in coming weeks due to lorries hitting bridges, with the problem peaking in October and November with around 10 incidents every day across Britain.

On average each bridge strike causes two hours of delays to train services and they are costing taxpayers £23 million per year in damage repairs and delays, it said.

A spokesman said it had been calculated that the 14 strikes in Leeman Road - the only bridge for which it had data in York - had cost £105,073.65 in compensation payment to delayed passengers.

He said it had caused 2,541 minutes of delay to rail passengers, with additional delays to motorists and chaos as traffic backed up into the city centre.

Rob McIntosh, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “I’m sure many people in York have experienced delays due to vehicles striking Leeman Road bridges and we appreciate just how frustrating this can be.

“Bridge strikes are completely preventable which is why we have teamed up with key transport industries to raise awareness of the problem and look at ways in which we can work together to reduce these incidents.

“Reducing these incidents means that we can improve journeys for passengers and ensure that we provide a network which meets the needs of the economies and communities our railway serves.”

Nationally, the bridge suffering the most collisions is on Stuntney Road in Ely, Cambridgeshire, which has been hit 113 times since 2009.

Network Rail said it was fitting steel beams to high-risk bridges to reduce the impact of collisions.

It believes bridge strikes peak from the end of October due to the clocks changing and the increase in the number of deliveries ahead of Christmas.

Most incidents occur between 10am and 11am, but continue all day until around 6pm.