Roof blown off at railway station (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Roof blown off at railway station

4:16pm Thursday 18th January 2007 in News By Gordon Simpson

Chippenham railway station has been closed after part of its roof was blown off by gale force winds today.

A six-ft plastic section of the main footbridge roof was dislodged at around 3.30pmand blown onto the track.

Engineers were called to remove the debris and sure up the roof, which looked unsteady in the continuing powerful gales.

Rail services at the station were severely disrupted and passengers wanting to catch trains were turned away.

Dorothy Pegging from Chippenham was trying to get to Westbury for a hospital appointment.

The 61-year-old said: "I hope I do not miss my appointment because it's quite important.

"To be fair to the staff here they are working hard to find alternative arrangements for me."

Twenty-seven-year-old Tracy Smith and her three-year-old daughter Danielle wanted to catch a train to Swindon.

She said: "I've got to be in Swindon soon and it is an inconvenience. It is a pain but these things happen and I know I can catch a bus instead."

A First Great Western spokeswoman at the station in Station Hill, said: "The station is now closed until further notice because of an incident involving our footbridge.

'Safety comes first and we are doing our best to help every single passenger that is experiencing problems."

Taxis and coaches were brought in to replace train services and passengers were given information about alternative bus services.

It joins stations at Warminster, Bedwyn and Dilton Marsh as casualties of the weather today in Wiltshire.

A First Great Western spokesman said services on the route to London had been "severely disrupted."