Licences could be revoked and HGV operators served with six-figure bills as part of a plan to cut the number of hugely disruptive bridge strikes.
Figures published by Network Rail show that 1,624 bridges were hit by vehicles — usually HGVs or buses — in the year to the end of March. This was more than four a day on average, despite a sharp drop in traffic during the period because of the pandemic.
Many incidents have been attributed to drivers following sat-navs.
Network Rail said bridge strikes cost around £23million a year and is seeking to recover damages from HGV operators involved in avoidable crashes.
The infrastructure manager said it will report crashes to the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain, which has the power to revoke licences.
Lorry drivers hit 1,624 in the 12 months up to March alone — more than four a day, despite the drop-off in traffic during lockdowns.
A lorry driver got stuck (pictured) when he tried to squeeze his HGV underneath a low railway bridge in Surrey
Driver blamed sat-navs for taking them on routes with bridges too low for their vehicles.
But rail bosses have little sympathy for the drivers, arguing it is their responsibility to know the height of their HGVs.
Network Rail chief executive Sir Peter Hendy told The Times: ‘A lorry or bus hitting a railway bridge isn’t an accident.
‘It’s a failure of professional operators and drivers to properly plan their routes and know the height of their vehicles, and can cause fatalities and serious injuries for road users, delays for both road and rail travellers, and could cause a catastrophic railway accident.
‘Network Rail looks to recover the entire cost of such incidents from operators and drivers, and also reports all of them to the traffic commissioners for consideration of enforcement and licence revocation.’
Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy and public affairs at the Road Haulage Association, added that specialised sat-navs already allow drivers to programme in the height of their vehicle, meaning they can avoid crashes.
This week train services in and out of Cornwall were disrupted for two days with people urged not to travel to the West Country after an ‘idiot’ Tesco driver got his lorry wedged under a bridge.
Locals heard a huge ‘bang’ when the HGV became wedged under the low arch in Plymouth on Monday and the mainline was not fully open again until Wednesday evening.
Keith Fletcher, who lives just by the bridge, said: ‘We heard a massive bang which we don’t normally hear when someone hits the bridge.
‘The lorry has actually lifted the stonework about three inches up, really this is the most damage I’ve seen and I’ve lived here for about 20 years.’
There was only one train an hour in either direction on Tuesday meaning that Cornwall, whose trains must pass over the bridge, was largely cut off from the rail network.
The most expensive incident in the last year was when a lorry hit a bridge in Haymarket, Edinburgh, on January 30, costing £155,690.
