A RAISED kerb created to improve safety on a Mid Devon bridge  at a cost of £8,000 has been blamed for three accidents in a matter of hours.

Around 250 litres of diesel was spilled on Bickleigh Bridge after a bus mounted the new so-called “anti- climb” kerb.

The Stagecoach vehicle was so damaged that it had to be towed away by a recovery lorry and its passengers transferred to a second bus.

And in the three hours it took  firefighters to  clear the scene and reopen the busy A396, another bus  and a car transporter both came a cropper on the same raised concrete strip on Wednesday.

Unapologetic highways chiefs at Devon County Council blamed the accidents on driver error rather than the safety measure they had only just  installed at a cost of  £8,150.

The kerb’s design was approved by English Heritage and Mid Devon’s conservation officer.

But critics of the scheme say the spate of accidents strengthens the case for traffic lights on the narrow bridge.

Nearby resident Tony Davies recalled  hearing a loud noise from his garden when the first bus mounted the kerb.

“It was hit three times in the space of an hour and It will be hit again, I guarantee it won’t be long,” he said.

“At one point that morning, you couldn’t have got a fag paper between the vehicles down there. They were at all different angles to each other. What you needed was someone with a whistle to direct the traffic the old fashioned way. It was more like the Arc de Triomphe out there.”

Mr Davies believes buses and lorries should be banned from using the bridge altogether because they are causing damage that is  often repaired using  taxpayers’ money.

Local county councillor  Polly Colthorpe   was “disappointed” that the kerbing had not had a smooth introduction, but   hoped that the new safety measures would better protect the Grade II listed bridge.

Council records show  Bickleigh  Bridge was damaged 17 times between December 1999 and August 2009  — but in the last 12 months alone it has been hit at least eight times.  More than £10,000 was spent on repairs to the historic span over the River Exe in the year up to last  July.

A Devon County Council spokesman was adamant the new kerbing and white lining had not contributed to the accidents.

The spokesman said: “It is our view that the recent accidents are the result of driver error or misjudgement.

“The protective measures have performed well in as much that the bridge masonry parapet could have been severely damaged had the raised kerbs not been in place.

“The protection works had not been fully completed at the time of the recent incidents and so the kerbing, although fully effective, did suffer some damage and movement.

“The kerbs will be fully reinstated with costs being reclaimed from the vehicle owners’ insurers.

“The effectiveness of the protective measures will continue to be monitored and it is hoped that drivers of large vehicles will be able to negotiate the bridge crossing without damaging this historic structure.”