Here's something Google Maps won't tell you: Britain has hundreds of railway bridges under 3 metres tall, and standard sat navs route you straight at them. Network Rail's own research found that more than half of drivers don't factor low bridges into their route planning at all. The result? 1,666 bridge strikes in 2024/25, at an average cost of around £13,000 each, with the worst incidents running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
If you drive a motorhome, campervan or anything towing a tall caravan, these are the ten you really need to know about. Heights below come straight from Network Rail's official bridge clearance database. Strike counts are from Network Rail's published figures for the financial year ending 31 March 2025.
A quick word on motorhome heights
Most coachbuilt motorhomes sit at around 2.74 metres. A-class models often run between 3 and 3.4 metres, sometimes more once you've got an air-con unit or solar panels on the roof. Even a humble panel van conversion is usually 2.4 to 2.85 metres tall.
Standard road bridges in the UK are designed for a 5.03 metre minimum clearance, but plenty of older railway bridges fall well below that. Some are well below it. The ones on this list range from 2.0 to 3.96 metres, and every single one has caught out van or motorhome drivers in recent years.
Why standard sat navs miss them
Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze are all built around car routing. They don't ask for your vehicle height, so they don't filter routes by clearance. Network Rail has explicitly warned drivers not to rely on standard sat navs for any vehicle taller than a car, and the Department for Transport's professional driver guidance says the same.
A dedicated motorhome sat nav (or a route planner that takes vehicle dimensions into account) will route around low bridges automatically. Without one, the only protection between your roof and a 100-year-old railway bridge is your own eyes on the warning signs.
Right, here are the ten.
1. Stuntney Road, Ely (Cambridgeshire)
The bridge that just keeps featuring on Network Rail's most-bashed list, year after year. It's tall enough that a panel van conversion will probably squeeze through, but anything coachbuilt or A-class is going to come unstuck. The bridge has been hit so many times that Network Rail has fitted it with solar-powered impact monitoring cameras to speed up post-strike inspections.
If you're driving the A142 between Ely and Soham, just don't. Use the bypass.
2. Stonea Road, Stonea (Cambridgeshire)
This one is genuinely terrifying. The B1098 between Chatteris and Wimblington drops down through a tiny brick arch under the Ely-Peterborough line, and the bridge is so low that locals have been campaigning about it for years. After a 2019 strike caused major damage, Network Rail fitted reinforcement beams that actually lowered the clearance further from 2.1m to 2.0m. There is literally no motorhome on the UK market that will fit through this bridge. Anything taller than a small car needs to use the parallel level crossing instead.
3. Lower Downs Road, Wimbledon (London)
Originally built as a Victorian "cattle arch" for livestock to pass under the railway, this one's a London classic. The catch is that the bridge actually drops by another foot halfway through if you're heading northbound, so even a vehicle that just clears the entrance can find itself wedged in the middle. Despite warning signs, flashing lights and decades of campaigning, drivers still get caught out fifteen-plus times a year. Avoid the SW20 area entirely if you're in anything bigger than a Ford Transit.
4. Station Road, Berkswell (West Midlands)
Here's a sneaky one. The road tunnels under Berkswell station were built relatively recently, in 2004, when the level crossing was removed as part of West Coast Main Line upgrades. Two parallel tunnels, one for vehicles and one for pedestrians, both very narrow and very low. Because they're modern, drivers don't expect them to be such a tight squeeze. The road tunnel is controlled by traffic lights because it's too narrow for two-way traffic. Worth knowing if you're heading to Balsall Common, Stoneleigh or anywhere in the Meriden Gap.
5. Ickleton Road, Great Chesterford (Essex)
A rural Cambridgeshire-Essex border bridge that catches out pretty much every coachbuilt motorhome that approaches it. The local walking route guide actually warns pedestrians "do not attempt to walk through the tunnel" because of the visibility and traffic. If you're heading anywhere near Saffron Walden or the M11 Junction 9 area in a tall vehicle, plan around it.
6. Abbey Farm, Thetford (Norfolk)
This bridge gets its own folklore in Thetford. In a single Friday in August 2019, three vehicles got stuck under it in one day, including a campervan. Locals have suggested setting up a picnic to watch the carnage and someone has graffitied "no vans, low exit" onto the brickwork. The road connects Station Road to Mundford Road in Thetford town centre, so it's tempting if you're trying to avoid rush hour traffic. Don't.
7. Coddenham Road, Needham Market (Suffolk)
When Suffolk Highways and Network Rail fitted collision beams to this bridge in early 2021, they lowered the safe clearance from 2.5m to 2.3m. Local drivers who'd been squeezing under it for years suddenly couldn't. Within days the new beams had already been hit. If you're routing around the A14 between Stowmarket and Ipswich, this is the diversion you want to avoid.
8. Old Watling Street, Atherstone (Warwickshire)
Tucked next to Atherstone railway station, this bridge isn't on this year's Network Rail top 10 but it has a place in motorhome bridge-strike history: a caravan being towed under it once got wedged. The signed clearance is just 2.0m. There is no scenario in which this is passable in anything bigger than a small estate car. It's worth knowing about because Atherstone sits right on the A5 corridor where motorhomes regularly travel, and a wrong turn off the main road could put you on a collision course.
9. Thames Street, Staines (Surrey)
This is the bridge for taller A-class owners to worry about, rather than your typical coachbuilt. It made Network Rail's national top 10 in 2020/21 with 10 strikes in a year, and remains a regular incident location. It carries the Waterloo-Reading line over the B376 next to the Thames itself, right in the middle of Staines-upon-Thames. If your A-class plus rooftop kit gets close to 4 metres, treat this one with proper respect, especially with any approach gradient affecting your effective height.
10. New Smithy, Hayfield Road (Derbyshire)
A Peak District classic that was on Network Rail's top 10 most-bashed list back in 2015/16 with 13 strikes in a single year. The A624 between Chapel-en-le-Frith and Glossop is a popular touring route for motorhomes heading into the Peaks, and the clearance is tight enough that taller A-class models will be cutting it fine. Worth flagging because the Peaks are full of older bridges in similar shape, and this one's the headline act.
How to plan around them
- Use a sat nav that knows your dimensions. Garmin Camper, TomTom Go Camper, or any HGV-grade device. Enter your height accurately, including roof furniture (air-con, solar, satellite dish, the lot). A foot of margin is sensible.
- Don't trust Google Maps for routing. It's brilliant for live traffic and finding services, but it does not know about bridge heights. Use it alongside a vehicle-aware sat nav, never instead of one.
- Know your actual vehicle height. Network Rail's research found that 32% of drivers admit they don't know their vehicle height before setting off. Measure it yourself with a tape measure. Don't trust the spec sheet, especially if you've added kit since you bought it.
- Read the road signs. When you see a triangular or circular height warning sign in advance of a bridge, that's not a suggestion, it's a hard limit. The signed height already includes a safety margin (UK signs are rounded down, with at least 75mm of headroom built in), so don't try to game it.
- If in doubt, stop. Pull into a layby, check the route on your phone, and find an alternative. A five-minute delay beats a £13,000 repair bill.
A final word
Most bridge strikes happen during the day, mostly between 10am and 11am, often when a driver is rushed, distracted, or following a sat nav that didn't know what kind of vehicle was behind the wheel. They're almost entirely preventable.
Plan ahead, know your height, and treat every low bridge sign as gospel. Your roof, your insurance premium, and several hundred train passengers will thank you.
Sources: Network Rail Bridge Height Data (November 2024); Network Rail "Wise Up, Size Up" press release, 8 December 2025; Department for Transport "Prevention of Bridge Strikes" guidance; HSE workplace transport height restrictions guidance.