WORK on renovating an historic rail bridge at Teignmouth has ground to a halt after the contractor ran into financial problems.

Now the Eastern Bridge, close to the station, has been branded a safety hazard and an eyesore because it has been abandoned and left enclosed in ugly scaffolding and plastic sheets, which are torn and flapping in the wind.

Network Rail says it is pressing for the job to be finished, but it could take months.

Teignmouth councillor Sylvia Russell fumed: 'It is a blot on the seafront landscape and the rusting scaffold could drop on to the line. It might also be an attraction for children to play on because the site is unsupervised.

'What a horrible impression of Teignmouth it presents to thousands of rail travellers who pass under the bridge every day. It makes the town look rundown and I am insisting that Network Rail find somebody to complete the job as quickly as possible.'

She added: 'Unfortunately it is too late for Easter, but we must have this awful eyesore site cleaned up in time for the main summer season. The whole saga is a total lash-up.'

The bridge, one of the most photographed in the country because of its location on the scenic mainline along the seawall, is more than 100 years old, and was being given a £400,000 facelift. Work should have finished by mid-February.

But there has been no activity on the site since the end of last year, and now it has been revealed that Wrekin Construction, of Shropshire, which had the contract, has gone into administration.

It pulled off site, and a legal wrangle under way about the future of Wrekin and its uncompleted projects.

Network Rail believes it will take another two months to finish the facelift.

'We have asked other contractors to secure the site, and keep it safe and tidy as possible,' said a Network Rail spokeswoman.

'However, we are not in the position yet to instruct them to complete the work as we have to follow the legal process under the terms of administration.

'We will work hard to finish the work as soon as the administration process is completed

'We apologise, but it has all been out of our control. We are pressing for completion.'

Cllr Russell said: 'I am not happy with the response from Network Rail – they should be doing more to get it completed. I am told that work stopped well before Christmas, but did the rail company know this? If not, why not?"

Asked why Wrekin had stopped work in December, but not gone into administration until recently, the rail spokeswoman responded: 'We do not know – only Wrekin can answer that.'

Earlier this year, Network Rail told the Post that the contract mainly involved structural work and cosmetic improvements.

'Although the bridge is not a listed building, we are treating it with a lot of respect,' the spokeswoman emphasised.

The bridge carries the narrow road and lane from Eastcliff to the clifftop coastal footpath, and was completed in 1884.

Wrekin, which employs up to 600 workers, was taken into administration by the RBS bank after it received a winding up petition from third parties, who claimed they had not been paid for projects.

But the company criticised the bank, maintaining it had just received confirmation of two new orders valued at £50 million; it still had a significant margin on its overdraft facility, and had a total order book worth hundreds of millions.

A Wrekin spokesman stated: 'As a result of this administration, the taxpayer may have to make redundancy payments of £2.5 million, and there will be ongoing employment costs for than 500 employees.'

Accountant Ernst & Young blamed the financial problems directly on the economic downturn. The company had a successful track record of winning significant new contracts.