A CHIEF constable has been landed with a financial headache after a convoy carrying a huge engine crashed into a low bridge on the A1.

The slow moving convoy, which needed a police escort, was on its way to the Cammell Laird shipyard at South Bank, near Redcar, when the accident happened in December 1999.

The engine's manufacturer is claiming more than £200,000 in compensation after the convoy ploughed into a low bridge.

Officials say the £1.6m cable drum powerplant was so badly damaged after the impact it had to be taken back to the factory and rebuilt.

Now Wolverhampton-based Dowty Precision Handling Systems is suing two haulage firms and the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police for compensation.

In a High Court writ the company said it told hauliers Mann and Son, of Harwich, and Studley-based Allelys Heavy Haulage that the engine was at risk because of its large size.

Because the engine was such an unusual shape it could not legally be carried on the public roads unless accompanied by and under the directions and control of a police escort.

The writ claims Nottinghamshire Police were informed of the unusual cargo and details of the intended route were given so that it would avoid the low Blythe Spital bridge on the A1.

The police force agreed to escort the vehicle on its intended route through the county. But the police escort did not go the intended route and stayed on the A1.

Instead it went under the bridge and the lorry carrying the engine followed, hitting the bridge at about 20mph and wrecking the cargo.

Dowty claims the police and the two haulage companies were negligent and in breach of contract.

It alleges that it has come under fire from Global, the company that bought the engine, because it did not deliver.

The powerplant was due to be fitted to the cable-laying vessel Astana at Cammell Laird's shipyard in Redcar.

A spokesman for Cammell Laird said they knew nothing about the incident. Nottinghamshire Police declined to comment