THE mystery of a how a 6ft hole appeared in a bridge appears to have been solved by readers of The Northern Echo.

On Friday, it was reported that Yarm Bridge, over the River Tees, was closed to pedestrians after a large hole appeared the previous weekend.

Neither the police nor fire services had any record of an accident on the bridge, but several readers have contacted the Echo, all telling the same story.

They said a red sports car driven by a young man crashed into the bridge at about 2am on Sunday, August 15.

The bridge was made safe by Stockton Borough Council last week and the authority hired a contractor to repair the bridge.

It re-opened to pedestrians on Friday.

Councillor John Fletcher, who represents Eaglescliffe on Stockton council, said: "I hope the council will be able to recover the cost of the repair from the driver's insurers and it will not fall on the council taxpayers of the borough."