A CASE has been dropped against a lorry driver accused of driving without due care and attention after a 40 tonne HGV hit the A325 Wrecclesham railway bridge and overturned last October.

Troy William Stevens, 35, of Whittles Drive, Guildford, was charged in the wake of the crash involving a five-axle Renault truck in Wrecclesham Road on October 6, 2017.

However, having pleaded not guilty to the offence in March, the case was dismissed with “no evidence offered” at Guildford Magistrates’ Court last Friday, August 17.

It comes after an HGV belonging to Kent-based haulage firm S&S Distribution struck the protective boom on the southern side of the bridge at around 10am on Friday, October 6, last year.

The trailer of the lorry, driven by Mr Stevens, flipped onto the A325/Weydon Lane junction while the cab rolled onto the only pedestrian walkway under the bridge.

It is the latest in a long line of bridge strikes in Wrecclesham Road, and responding to the incident last October, Wrecclesham villagers accelerated calls for safety improvements in the village.

Following a more recent incident in February, in which an HGV collapsed on the pavement under the bridge, spilling 300 gallons of diesel and closing the A325 for a prolonged period, MP Jeremy Hunt also condemned Wrecclesham’s “flawed road layout” and set out plans for “urgent improvements” on the A325.