Miraculous escape for van driver after scaffolding collapse

Scaffolding collapse on Stoke Newington Church St. Pic by local traders.

Traders in Stoke Newington say it’s a miracle no one was seriously injured or killed after an enormous tower of scaffolding collapsed on Church St.

The scaffolding on the library came down suddenly at around 7.30am on Wednesday April 16th, crashing down on a white van beneath. Firefighters attended but the driver had escaped unharmed.

Cllr Susan Fajana Thomas, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Regulatory Services, said: “I’m relieved it was a quiet time with no children around due to the school holidays.”

The building is just a short walk from St Mary’s Primary and Stoke Newington School and, had the incident happened in term time, it’s likely children could have been passing on their way to school. 

Heidi Early, Chair of Stoke Newington Business Association and owner of local store Earlybird, said: “It’s a miracle that no one was seriously injured or even killed. This is the third such incident in a relatively short space of time in the area. Serious questions need to be asked about building maintenance and health and safety.  We can’t have it where scaffolding is erected and just left for long periods.”

Church St was closed while authorities dealt with the emergency and buses were on diversion. Nearby businesses were forced to close. 

Emergency services at the scene. Pic by local traders.

In January 2023 a building on Stoke Newington High Street, which had had scaffolding up for around 18 months, partially collapsed sending debris crashing through scaffolding onto the pavement below.  The road was closed for weeks while engineers assessed the building and made it safe. A similar accident outside Stokey Vintage happened in March 2019 when falling debris narrowly missed a pedestrian.

After this latest incident in Church Street, locals took to social media to express their concerns.  One wrote: “This scaffolding has been there forever and I’ve never seen a single worker on it.”  Another wrote: “This could have been a disaster if it was midday.”  Another wrote: “This happens way too often.”

And a local woman added: “New fear unlocked  - I was always scared to walk under scaffolding, now I’ll try to avoid at all costs!”

The cause of the collapse is unclear, but the winds were so high the night before the collapse that a tree was downed in Abney Park.