Builder of Bristol's Pero's Bridge says he warned the council it could slip before it fell into the harbour

The central span of the lifting footbridge slipped shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, leaving part of it in the water of Bristol's Floating Harbour, IBTimes UK reported. The movement damaged the hydraulic ram that raises the span, and some hydraulic oil escaped into the water near the Arnolfini. Nobody was hurt. The crossing has been shut since a test lift in August left the middle section jammed.

Abels told the BBC that after that first failure he wrote to Bristol City Council, offered to help with the repair and warned that the span could move further unless someone acted. He said the deck is still hanging on the pier, short of the harbour bed, and can move again. In his view the damage could have been fixed relatively easily, and the repair bill will now be far higher. The council confirmed that his message arrived and was sent on to its engineering team.

Andrew Brown, who chairs the council's harbour committee, said a crew went out on Sunday to look over the damage and gather debris. He told the BBC that work had been going on in the background and that the full extent of the new damage will only be known once the sections are in dry dock. Brown called the collapse regrettable for a bridge about 25 years old and said love locks left on the railings had added weight and stress.

The council says there is no confirmed impact on its refurbishment program, which aims to reopen the crossing in spring 2027. Council records cited by IBTimes UK show £1.35 million approved for repairs in March and another £160,000 in July. The damaged sections were due to go to Albion Dry Dock, and the plan to lift the bridge out is under review.