ONE spark could have blown up Shaldon Bridge 40 years ago.

A high pressure gas main running along the bridge was fractured when a runaway trawler broke loose from its mooring.

The vessel crashed into the bridge and became completely jammed.

A derrick mast was pinned right under the nine-inch pipe, which was pushed upwards as the tide rose, and eventually cracked.

A report in November 1980 said a full scale emergency was declared, and the bridge immediately sealed to traffic and pedestrians.

Chief Insp Stan Dibble of Teignmouth police who was in charge of the operation said: ‘Potentially this was a highly dangerous situation. I am advised by the experts that if the gas had ignited a large part of the bridge could have been destroyed.’

Luckily the drama occurred almost in the middle of the bridge, well away from properties in Teignmouth and Shaldon.

A strong wind also blew most of the escaping gas harmlessly up river.

The main danger passed when the tide began to drop and the boat was disentangled from the gas main.

Water was also pumped into the fish hold to keep the vessel as low as possible in the river.

Gas board engineers eventually decided to bypass the fracture with a new length of pipe, but the work was expected to take some hours and the bridge will probably be closed for much of the day.

The hiss of the escaping gas could be heard more than 100 yards away, but engineers did not want to turn off the supply because of the risk of an explosion in houses with gas appliances in the Shaldon area.

‘The biggest danger would have come if the pipe had completely severed. Then the threat of explosion in houses would have been extremely high,’ said Chief Insp Dibble.

He was full of praise for the assistant divisional fire officer Brian Reed, and the gas board engineer Herbie Lees, who both climbed down onto the trawler to help free the mast.

It was a hazardous situation for the the two men because the metal mast was rubbing against the pipe, and a spark could have easily been generated by the friction.

Firemen from Teignmouth stood by with hose reels at the ready, and auxiliary coastguards kept other vessels well away from the scene.

Police also kept back hundreds of sightseers.

The trawler, numbered KY10 and named Naqru, had been moored alongside Teignmouth docks overnight, and how it drifted away is still a mystery.

One theory is that it could have been cut loose deliberately.

The skipper, Kevin Brock of Dawlish, was not on board at the time but arrived on the scene when he heard the news.

Traffic in the area was severely disrupted by the closure of the bridge, and diversions operated around Newton Abbot. Hundreds of people were late for school and work,and the only way of crossing the river was by the little pedestrian ferry, which was very busy.