THE driver of this council van had a bit of explaining do to after parking a little too close to Poole Bridge during a maintenance lift.

No-one was injured in the incident, which happened today, but the van is considerably more 'compact' than it was at the beginning of the day.

Poole dock worker Lee Hebditch took the photo and uploaded it to social media.

He said his reason was to provide a bit of welcome relief, for everyone apart from the red-faced driver, of course, during what has been a stressful week for many.

Lee told the Echo: "I just put it up on there as it is one of those things in life that you don't see very often.

"I work down on the docks and was going out for lunch. I took a short walk around the corner and saw the bridge was up."

Currently, the bridge is undergoing maintenance, to tie in with the resurfacing work taking place as part of the Hunger Hill scheme.

"As I'm getting closer I'm thinking 'that van doesn't look like its parked in the right place'," said Lee. "A bit closer and I'm thinking 'actually that looks like it is touching the bridge'.

"Then as I got really close I could see the van was absolutely destroyed."

Gary Powell, head of engineering at BCP Council confirmed the van belonged to them and that it has been "severely damaged."

He said: "The bridge is currently closed for scheduled maintenance works and no one has been injured in this incident.

"The vehicle has been recovered and we are moving quickly to assess any possible damage to the bridge."

Meanwhile, Lee said: "They work on the bridge all the time – perhaps it was just a lapse in concentration. But in this day and age, with all the CCTV around, you'd think someone would have spotted it.

"If someone had been sat in that it could have been nasty."

Lee also said that when he took the photo he thought the driver was standing nearby.

"He looked quite embarrassed about it all,"said Lee.