A RECYCLING lorry crashed into scaffolding outside a shopfront yesterday morning.

A picture taken at about 10am showed the vehicle stuck diagonally across Ship Street in Brighton, blocking the road.

Following the crash, part of the scaffolding appeared to be leaning on the top of the lorry, with several metal poles left at an angle after the impact.

In the image, workers in hard hats and high-vis jackets could be seen moving bits of scaffolding.

The street is home to popular Brighton businesses such as Cafe Coho, Browns Brasserie and Bar, and Boho Gelato, which are all within feet of the site of the collision.

However, many are currently shut due to lockdown restrictions.

Seb Cole, owner of ice cream company Boho Gelato said it was lucky the street was quiet at the time of the incident.

The store was also just centimetres from the front of the lorry following the accident.

The 41-year-old was unaware of the incident when it happened as he was making ice cream in the basement of another of the company’s shops in nearby Pool Valley.

“It was news to me,” he said as he went to survey the scene late yesterday afternoon.

“The scaffolding has been here since June. It seems like it’s all been tidied away now.

“It doesn’t look like anything has really changed, although there does seem to be some new yellow tubing around the scaffolding poles which I don’t remember being there before.

“But it’s really lucky we were closed so no one was hurt.”

Mr Cole said he had been planning to use the area outside the Ship Street store to sell ice cream in the summer, but this plan had been hampered by the scaffolding and, later, the enforced closure of non-essential retailers under lockdown restrictions.

The Argus contacted Brighton and Hove City Council about the incident, but it was confirmed the lorry was not working for the authority. 

The lorry belongs to Paper Round, a waste management company which offers “complete recycling, security shredding and waste collection services to businesses in Brighton and London”.

Brighton Paper Round managing director Darren Hedges said the incident was being taken “extremely seriously” and an investigation had been launched to try and establish the circumstances which led to the crash.

He said: “Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, all the relevant parties have been informed. We  have begun a thorough investigation.”

The Argus:

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