Whitby's famous swing bridge has re-opened to pedestrians after it broke down this morning - although vehicles are still being diverted.

After the eastern and western halves of the bridge jammed in the open position at about 6.30am this morning, they were manually brought back together by engineers some five hours later.

For the time being however, vehicles are not being allowed to cross the bridge and it is only being opened manually at selective times to allow river traffic through.

Hydraulic and electrical engineers are continuing to diagnose the cause of the bridge fault and how it can be rectified.

The breakdown comes less than a month after councilllors reassured the public that the bridge was in a good condition after two similar faults last year.

On one of those occasions the bridge was stuck in the open position for several days, causing chaos for residents and tourists and leading to complaints from businesses based on the Eastern Abbey side of the town.

North Yorkshire County Council had set up road closure signs and Scarborough Borough Council staff arranged for free shuttle buses to be put in place.