Farmer left £15,000 out of pocket after lorry crashes into shed

Graham Avery, a farmer in Kelvedon, owns a property near the railway bridge on Oak Road in Rivenhall, close to the A12.

The bridge is notorious for causing tailbacks as lorries realise that they cannot pass underneath too late and have to reverse and turn around.

On Monday at some time between 1pm and 8pm, a lorry attempting this manoeuvre crashed into the side of an agricultural storage shed, leaving irreversible damage.

Mr Avery said: “To be quite honest it is more or less a case of taking it down and rebuilding completely.

“The insurance won’t cover the damage because it has been done by a road vehicle.

“I estimate if we take it down and rebuild it, with storage costs we are pushing up to £15,000 for repairs.”

The offending bridge is always causing problems and Mr Avery has had a considerable amount of damage done to his property before now.

He said: “This is not a one-off event, it is constant. In the last fortnight we have repaired both gateposts.

“The hedges on the other side of the road have come down, that is where they back in and scrape it with their wheels.

“We have had so many break-ins here as well, but to be honest the damage caused by people breaking in is nothing compared to the lorry damage.

“They have put new up signs but nothing has sorted the problem. It has got worse since. I would say it happens once a day at least.

“I really do not know what is causing it. It is getting worse all the time. This is the worst incident we’ve ever had.

“Nobody has ever said that they have seen anything or given us any information so we can locate the driver either.”

Unable to claim on his insurance, Mr Avery would like to speak to anyone who may have seen anything. Please contact The Times on 01376 334343 if you have any information.

A spokesperson for Essex Highways said: “Our engineers will inspect the bridge to establish any issues with it. Any issues identified will logged on our system for repair.”