VANDALS have forced Railtrack to close a footbridge near Mill Hill station for four weeks.

The bridge was due to be closed for renovation on July 14 but was sealed off on Tuesday after a preliminary inspection by engineers.

A spokesman for Railtrack said: "When the engineers arrived on site to carry out preparatory work they were concerned at the condition of the bridge, which has been subjected to vandalism."

Phil Ocego, civil engineer for contractors, Edmond Nuttall carried out the inspection.

He said: "The wooden parapets on one side had come away from the bridge. It had dropped down and was putting a lot more pressure on the bridge. It could have collapsed.

"The panels were well rotted so we decided to close it.

"We saw the bridge a few weeks ago and although it was rotted away it was still fine. We went back on Monday and it looked as though vandals had been kicking the panels through.

"Although we put a scaffold around it on Saturday night, we decided that it still presented a risk.

"The council agreed with us and the work has been brought forward."

"We have done a letter drop at houses in the area, and we are going to let residents have a diagram of the alternative route."

Local people have complained about vandalism in the area in recent months.

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council added: "The closure wasn't supposed to start yet, but we had a telephone call from Railtrack saying that because of vandalism it really wasn't safe to leave."

An alternative route from Bunsall Strett along Shorrock Street, Granton Street, New Chapel Street, Railway View, Bower Street, to Marsden Street has been suggested by the council.