The fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Cleddau Bridge brings back memories.
Just a couple of weeks before the bridge collapsed, my building company, R M Stoddart Construction Ltd, signed the contract with Pembrokeshire County Council to build the offices, walls and toll booths at the bridge.
After the bridge collapsed during construction, the county council’s first reaction was to cancel my company’s contract, but we were very short of work at the time and after I threatened to seek compensation for breach of contract, it was decided to go ahead.
There were still half-finished sections of the bridge on the site so the toll booths, which were to be supplied by a specialist sub-contactor, were omitted.
Our site manager was David Sinnett – father of Nigel and Rhys – and the council insisted on their own stonemason being employed on the random stonework which was the fashion at the time. So that ugly mess wasn’t our fault. We shared the site with the contractors dismantling the fallen structure so it was quite a contrast between their heavy lifting gear and our modest little operation.
One feature I remember well was the reinforced concrete strongroom. The reinforcing consisted of stainless steel bars to which 6-inch diameter stainless steel discs were welded at about four inch spacings. When fixed, the discs interlocked to give an impenetrable wall.
Even the floor was reinforced to deter tunnellers, though I can’t say whether there was ever enough money stored there to justify this miniature version of Fort Knox.
