FORTH Road Bridge chief Barry Colford, chief engineer and bridgemaster, said he had “huge sympathy” for everyone who was delayed after West Fife commuters suffered hours of traffic chaos last night (Tuesday) when 200 litres of diesel were spilled on the bridge.

The spill occurred shortly after 1pm, when a piece of metal debris that had fallen off a vehicle onto the carriageway punctured a lorry’s fuel tank on the bridge.

Around 200 litres of diesel were spilled along the inside lane of the northbound carriageway along almost half of the bridge’s 2.5km span.

One northbound lane was closed and sand was used to soak up as much diesel as possible, with three roadsweeping vehicles working for seven hours to scrub the residue and remove it from the road surface.

The lane closure caused massive tailbacks, and there was a knock-on effect when a lorry broke down on the M90/M9 slip road at Junction 1A.

The story garnered nearly 7700 views on the Press Facebook page, with some readers taking more than five hours to get home from across the Forth.

Derek Payne said, “Left work in Edinburgh 5.30 didn’t get home to Dunfermline till 9.30.” Garry Dryburgh added, “It just took me 2½ hours to get to Dunfermline from Winchburgh. I think there is a lot of people worse off than me.” Gail Percival stated, “Four hours from Kirkliston. Not a police car in sight! Some traffic management would have been good.” Alison McMillan wrote, “Left Bellshill at 3.30, got home to Fife at 8.45! No police directing traffic, utter chaos!” However, a few lucky commuters reported no problems coming home via Kincardine.

Zoë Hubbucks said, “No delays at Kincardine, seemingly took 25 mins from Kirkliston to Kincardine bridge.” Jude Harley added, “Got from Newbridge to Kincardine in no time at all. Don’t sit in it, go Kincardine.” Both lanes reopened around 8.30pm but queues only started clearing around 10pm.

A Forth Road Bridge spokesman said it was essential all traces of diesel were removed, as the bridge’s asphalt surfacing could weaken and disintegrate if diesel was allowed to soak into it.

Mr Colford said, “This lane closure was necessary for the safety of bridge users and to minimise damage to the fabric of the bridge.

“We had to make sure there was no risk of traffic skidding on the bridge and possibly colliding with other vehicles or bridge components.

“This could have resulted in a much more serious incident and a longer closure.

“We also had to make sure that as much diesel as possible was removed from the asphalt surfacing.

“If we had not done this the diesel would have soaked into the asphalt, weakening it and causing it to break up.

“We would then have faced the cost and disruption of completely resurfacing the carriageway.

“The team used three roadsweeping vehicles working continuously in rotation.

“Sand was used to soak up as much diesel as possible, then the surface was scrubbed with detergent, which was then vacuumed off.

“This process had to be repeated many times before enough of the diesel was extracted from the asphalt.

“Thanks are due to the Forth Road Bridge staff who worked tirelessly today to clean up this spill and get the traffic moving again.

“We are lucky to have such a dedicated team looking after the bridge.”