London Bridge Falling Down?

This is the kinda news the londoners should be filling us in with! Quite bizarre if you ask me. Thanks iol.co.za

London - Tower Bridge became stuck and caused traffic jams on Thursday after its arms opened for ships to pass on the Thames, less than a week after another London landmark, Big Ben, stopped telling time.

Engineers were still working late on Thursday at the bridge built in 1894 to try to correct the problem which happened as the bascules were raised at around 1.40pm but failed to close properly.

"We swung the bascules open again in an attempt to correct the problem, but it appears there is a software malfunction," said a spokesperson for the Corporation of London.

It is hoped that the bridge, which currently has the bascules raised, will be restored to working order by Friday morning.

Big Ben, the world-famous clock tower at the Houses of Parliament in London upriver on the Thames, stopped late on Friday night.

The 147-year-old timepiece - one of the most reliable in the world - stopped at 10.07pm, then started again, then stalled a second time at 10.20pm where it remained for 90 minutes before it was reset.

Hot weather might have been to blame - Friday was the hottest May in London since 1953, with a high of 31,8°C - but no one was certain.