Hammersmith Bridge illuminated red in Valentine's Day message to government

Hammersmith Bridge was lit up bright red as part of a Valentine's Day stunt to highlight ongoing delays in its repairs.

The 133-year-old West London bridge has been closed to traffic since April 2019 when cracks appeared in its bases.

In August, the bridge was closed to pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic after a heatwave caused “a significant increase in disruption”.

Annoyed residents projected a message onto the bridge on Saturday to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the complete closure.

Billed as “Britain's largest Valentine's Day card,” the message reads: “Broken hearts. Broken promises. Broken lives. Broken bridge.”

Organisers said the message was addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Hammersmith and Fulham Council leader Stephen Cowan.

A government task force was set up in September last year with the aim of “opening the bridge as quickly as possible”, Mr Shapps said.

He said at the time that London had “lacked the necessary leadership when it came to reopening this vital bridge”.

Helen Pennant-Rea, chair of the Hammersmith Bridge SOS Residents' Group, said the “Valentine's Day card” was intended to be a “fun and entertaining way to raise awareness of what remains a serious problem”.

She said: “It is a great shame that we have to highlight even more clearly the complete inability of politicians from all parties to find a satisfactory solution and to continue the funding and work to repair Hammersmith Bridge.

“Also, to create the urgently needed temporary pedestrian crossing.”

Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which owns the bridge, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister in August stating that the estimated cost of making the bridge safe and “avoiding a potential catastrophic collapse” would be £46 million.