SWEETHEARTS have started attaching “love locks” to a Durham footbridge.

About ten locks have appeared on the railings of the Penny Ferry Bridge across the River Wear from Framwelgate Waterside to Freeman’s Reach, in the city centre.

Some have hand-written messages, such as “Love you... for keeps!”, while others simply have the names of the star-crossed couple.

One is engraved with the text: “Leanne 4 Rachel” and one celebrates the marriage of Lucy and Gary with the message: “Happily ever after!”

The phenomenon of love locks is thought to date back 100 years to Most Ljubavi, the Bridge of Love, in First World War Serbia.

The story goes that the Serbian officer Relja broke off his engagement to Nada after falling in love with a woman while fighting in Corfu.

This prompted young women to protect their engagements by writing the names of their loved ones on padlocks and attaching them to the railings of the bridge where Relja and Nada used to meet.

The curiosity has become popular in recent years, spreading across Europe and the globe and even causing some local authorities to treat the locks as litter or vandalism.