Village bridge closure divides community

A village has been left divided after a bus crash closed an important bridge route.

The single decker bus left the road in Grosmont, near Whitby, and plunged 30ft (9m) into a river.

Since the crash on 3 August, the bridge has been closed due to damage meaning residents can no longer cross it on foot to access shops and other services.

Carol Hodgson, who manages Grosmont Co-operative Society, said the shop and its customers had been impacted.

However, the bridge closure was just the latest in a series of events affecting the 157-year-old store.

"With lockdown and everything, the price of living has gone up," Ms Hodgson said.

"It’s a mixture of all of those little bits put together, everywhere is struggling."

Despite this, the manager said the village had pulled together to keep the shop, which was established in 1867, open in recent months.

"She’s a very old shop, she’s the oldest independent co-op society in the UK," Ms Hodgson said.

Usually, August would be peak season for the business, with the area attracting walkers and visitors to the North Yorkshire Moors heritage railway.

However, the bridge closure has meant cars, buses and even mobility scooters could not enter Grosmont from one side, which had been particularly difficult for elderly residents.

"There’s only two proper ways into Grosmont," Ms Hodgson explained.

"I own the farm on the other side of the bridge. So if I can’t walk or bicycle into the village, which only takes five to 10 minutes, I have to go in my car, which now takes 20 minutes and is nine miles.

"We have volunteers asking people on this side if they need their prescriptions bringing across from the doctors and if they need any groceries from the shop."

North Yorkshire Council said it "could not provide timescales" for the bridge reopening but a temporary prohibition of traffic order was in place until February 2026.

Currently, all vehicles were also prevented from using Front Street until 24 August, subject to access to premises.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Scarborough and Whitby MP Alison Hume said: "I am concerned by the timescales suggested by the council and will do all I can to urge the highways department to carry out this work as soon as possible.

"I’ll be discussing this in more detail with North Yorkshire Council and the bus company Arriva in the coming days."

The council's highways area manager, Richard Marr, said initial inspections had been carried out at the site.

"Now the coach has been removed from the shallow river, we can determine the damage to the parapet stonework," he added.

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