FOLLOWING on from the rail replacement bus, which got stuck under a bridge near Brighton Station (The Argus, Monday), a spokesman said that events of this kind are extremely rare.

Actually they are not, far from it, in fact they are very common.

There are an average of five "bridge bashes" every day of the week in the UK and the cost to Network Rail alone works out at a massive £20 million a year.

This would not happen if this country adopted the system that is used in eastern Europe. There they put up concrete or metal barriers across the roads in front of their bridges.

Over-height vehicles collide with them, instead of damaging the bridges and disrupting the rail or road services that operate over them.

Eric Waters

Lancing