The Forth Road Bridge is to fully reopen on Saturday at 11pm, the Scottish Government said.

Transport minister Derek Mackay said repairs to the damaged main span truss end links are in the final stages and will be completed to allow the bridge to be reopened to HGVs on Saturday night.

The bridge was reopened to 90% of users on December 23 and since then the bridge operator Amey has been working around the clock to finish the strengthening programme to give all classes of vehicle access again.

This full re-opening follows a phased reintroduction of HGVs in the past two weeks.

“I know that this is something that will be welcomed by the tens of thousands of drivers who use the bridge on a daily basis, especially the heavy goods vehicle drivers who have had to observe restricted crossing times in the past few weeks,” said Mackay.

“I would like to thank them for their patience during this time and stress again that safety and the long-term integrity of the bridge had to be our main considerations. We did all we could to assist the HGV community on an operational level and they have shown great forbearance.”