A HUGE pontoon broke free from a Glasgow footbridge and floated down river, forcing workers at a nearby bridge to flee scaffolding amid fears it could crash into them.
Strong currents and rising water levels are thought to have caused the structure - being used by contractors dismantling the 'unsafe' Polmadie footbridge - to become dislodged.
It sparked an evacuation of workmen on scaffolding at Albert Bridge, which is currently being renovated.
The section of pontoon was spotted by George Parsonage, of the Glasgow Humane Society, who patrols the river.
He said the platform - one of 11 or 12 sections bolted together - came floating round the bend near the St Andrews suspension bridge shortly after 12.30pm.
It headed towards Albert Bridge, which is currently being renovated, where George, 71, raced to warn workers to get off the scaffolding in case it crashed into them.
Most of the rest of the pontoon became lodged against King's Bridge, where it is currently situated.
George said it was hoped it would stay secure there overnight and said there was nothing anyone could do tonight.
"We got the workmen off the platform at Albert Bridge and everyone is safe," he said.
"We have alerted Clydeport about the pontoon which is heading down the river."
A third, much smaller section of the pontoon remains at Polmadie Bridge where it is "secured as best it can be," George said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here