Never mind the Bridge Over The River Kwai, people in Poleglass are calling this the Bridge Over The River, Why? Shocked residents of Poleglass awoke this week to find a large metal bridge dumped in a field near their homes. Situated at Woodside Hill, the dumped half-ton bridge has left local people scratching their heads.

“To tell you the truth, I’m unable to determine if someone has stolen a chunk of footpath or dumped part of a bridge,” said bewildered Sinn Féin Councillor Arder Carson, “but clearly there is something very wrong.

“I pass this particular piece of land everyday. I am almost certain there was a pathway that led up to it and a bit of a river that ran underneath it but, like a lot of people about here, I’m not sure what has happened here.”

Baffled residents say they have no idea who dumped the bridge there or why. All they know is that it took a mighty effort.

“If these young tearaways, and I assume it is young people, can do a day’s work like that there’s hope for them yet,” said a local resident.

Another resident said: “There must be the smallest troll in the world living under there, you could hardly squeeze a bus ticket under it.”

Another neighbour said it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever seen.

“I heard somebody else call it the Bridge Over The River Why because we don’t know what it’s for,” she laughed.

A spokesperson for the Department for Regional Development Roads Service told the Andersonstown News: “This is not an issue for Roads Service.” Lisburn City Council and the Housing Executive say they are also looking into it. Or over it. Or across it.