A Willington bridge notorious for the amount of times it has been crashed into, has seen almost £96,000 paid out in compensation payments.

The rail bridge in Repton Road, Willington, has been struck 37 times in the past five years, causing more than 43 hours of delays to train passengers and resulting in frustration for nearby residents.

As a result of the regular disruption, Network Rail has launched a campaign in a bid to tackle the problem after it emerged three rail bridges in the East Midlands – Willington, in South Derbyshire, and Chinley in North Derbyshire, as well as Hinckley in Leicestershire – are among the most hit in the country.

The three bridges have been struck a total of 210 times in six years, causing hours of disruption and costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages.

New research by Network Rail shows 43 per cent of lorry drivers admit to not knowing the size of their vehicles and more than half of them do not take low bridges into account when planning their journeys.

The campaign, which runs until April next year, urges HGV drivers to "check it, rather than chance it" and will see haulage and public transport industries work together to stress the importance of adhering to height restrictions.

Rob McIntosh, route managing director at Network Rail, said: "I am sure many people in the East Midlands will have experienced delays due to vehicles striking railway bridges and we appreciate just how frustrating this can be.

"Bridge strikes are completely preventable which is why we have teamed up with key transport industries to raise awareness of the problem and look at ways in which we can work together to reduce these incidents.

"Reducing these incidents means that we can improve journeys for passengers and ensure that we provide a network which meets the needs of the economies and communities our railway serves."

David Pickering, chief operating officer at haulage firm Eddie Stobart, said: "We are pleased to be supporting Network Rail’s campaign as we have worked really hard to highlight the importance of our drivers knowing the height of their vehicles.

"As well as carefully planning routes to avoid low bridges, we carry out manual vehicle checks at the beginning of every journey which require the driver to adjust the trailer height on a measurement in the cab.

"Additionally, we are installing software early next year which will warn drivers with an audible alarm when they are approaching a bridge. We have also tried some quirky ways of engaging drivers in the issue including our giant giraffe ‘Bridget’ in our Training Academy which serves as a constant reminder to our drivers of why they need to be bridge aware."