Street cleaner destroys century-old river shelter

The brick structure collapsed but the roof appears to have largely survived

A brick shelter built beside a river in Kent more than a hundred years ago has been destroyed by a street cleaning machine.

The machine crashed into the Threepenny Shelter, built in 1922 next to the River Medway in Tonbridge, on Monday morning.

The remains are being cleared away and taken to storage where they will be assessed.

Matt Boughton, leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, said it was too soon to say if some of the shelter could be saved or if it would need replacing entirely.

"It was a terrible accident and in terms of what happens next, we don't know, but I'm sure we'll ask people for their views," Mr Boughton said.

"There's lots of different options but we need to move what's there and preserve what we can."

Mr Boughton confirmed it was the council's waste contractor FCC Environment which was operating the machine at the time of the crash.

A spokesperson for FCC said it was unable to comment on the incident as it was currently under investigation.

The shelter was built as part of the River Walk - a 28-mile (45km) walk along the banks of the Medway.

It is known as the Threepenny Shelter because everyone in employment at the time was required to contribute three pence each week, so those without work could help construct what we now know as River Walk.

In 2017, the council was criticised for removing a bench from beneath the shelter in a bid to discourage rough sleeping.