A LORRY collided with scaffolding resulting in the closure of Cross Lane in Radcliffe for more than two hours on Tuesday (Nov 21).

The incident happened at around 10.30am and eyewitness Mrs Isobel Bennett, who lives in Cross Lane, captured it on video.

She said: "The lorry was turning into North Street but there were two parked cars there so it reversed and tried again. It got caught on the scaffolding which pierced the side of the trailer and actually lifted the lorry off its wheels."

No-one was hurt, although there was quite a bit of road chaos as traffic was diverted. The scaffolding, covering the row of terraced houses, is a result of urban renewal improvement work by Bury Council. But one resident is far from happy with what is going on.

Mr Paul Dootson (52) is seeking compensation from the council after claiming it is to blame for damage to his house.

He said: "As part of their work they removed the outer wall of the house but did not use sheeting to protect the inner wall from rain. As a result the water has seeped through and all the rooms in the house are wet through. We were assured there would be no damage."

Mr Dootson is also annoyed that the scaffolding has been up for 40 weeks, even though he was originally told it would only be in place for ten weeks at the most.

Coincidentally, the council had the scaffolding removed shortly after the collision. An environmental health spokesman blamed "contractual problems" and "unforeseen difficulties" for it being up for so long.