A crash into the railway bridge at the bottom of Old Hakin Road, Merlin's Bridge, could have ended in tragedy, as two to three tonnes of scrap metal fell out of a lorry and onto the road this morning (Wednesday).

The lorry was travelling from Milford Haven to Haverfordwest with a load of scrap metal. The height of the scrap was higher than the back of the vehicle itself and hit the bridge, causing tonnes of scrap to spill out from the back.

"Fortunately nobody was following directly behind the lorry," said PC Paul Rees of Haverfordwest road policing unit. "If a car had been behind it it would have been a different story."

It took police an hour to clear the scrap from the roadway. A large front loading tractor was used to temporarily remove the hunks of metal to a nearby builders yard.

Police, the highways agency and Railtrack engineers all attended the scene.

The railway track was examined and found to be safe.

The driver of the lorry was reported for using a vehicle in a dangerous condition but was not arrested or charged.