Pigeon closes road

A freak accident in which a pigeon smashed into a window forced the closure of a busy Peterborough city centre road on Wednesday, amid fears the broken glass could fall on passers-by four floors below.

Firefighters and Highways Agency staff cordoned off part of City Road, opposite the Passport Office, after the unusual incident, shortly before 11am on Wednesday, (15 July).

After the bird flew into the glass in a top-floor window of the Land Registry building, it broke a layer of the double-glazed pane. The bird died, but the impact left the glass dangling precariously.



To prevent it from injuring passers-by, firefighters closed the road as they worked to remove the window, using a turntable ladder from the Dogsthorpe station to reach the damaged glass.

Crew manager Farsh Raoufi said: "A bird had flown into the window on the top floor. It was double glazed and the outside pane was broken.

"We couldn't reach it from the inside, so set up a ladder because of fears the wind could blow down the pane and hurt people in the street below. We coned off road and removed the glass." He added: "This isn't our usual type of incident but obviously, we do what we can to protect the public's safety."