RAILWAY bosses have reassured worried Fareham residents that a bridge with inch-wide cracks in the brickwork is safe.

However, people living near Redlands Lane bridge claim that the fissures have widened over the hot summer months and are scared it will collapse.

Network Rail - which is responsible for rail tracks and bridges across the country - says that its three-monthly inspections show that the bridge is structurally sound.

Concerned community nurse Sue Mundye, 52, who has lived in Mill Road for five years, can use the bridge as many as ten times every day.

She said: "When I first moved here five years ago it was just a hairline crack but now it's quite pronounced.

"Looking at it I wonder if it's going to collapse because over the last six months it has got decidedly worse.

"It is a bit of a concern driving under there as often as I do.

"I'm just scared that it might collapse when someone is driving under it."

Retired civil servant Elizabeth Williams has lived in Mill Road for 30 years.

She said: "They are quite large and you can really notice them from a distance.

"They have been there for a long time."

Donna Casey from Network Rail said engineers last inspected the bridge on July 21 and there were no plans to mend the cracks.

She said: "Safety is Network Rail's top priority and we carry out repairs to our structures as and when they are needed.

"The bridge in question in sited on an area of disused railway and poses no threat to the safety of the public or the railway."