Padlocks bearing messages of love and companionship have been removed from a north-east bridge due to structural concerns.
Aberdeenshire council removed 150 ‘love locks’ from the River Cowie bridge in Stonehaven, many of which were inscribed with romantic messages.
The locks were beginning to cause corrosion to the bridge, which has prompted Aberdeenshire Council to remove them.
One lock was inscribed with “Vikki, will you marry me?”
And when Victoria Dickinson saw the photo on the council’s social media site, she confirmed there had been a happy outcome and she was now happily married and living in Glasgow with husband Andy.
She added: “How can we get our lock back, I can’t believe it’s getting taken down.”
The authority is now urging people to come along and reclaim them and is keeping them at Carlton House in Stonehaven for “a time”.
Donald MacPherson, structures manager for Aberdeenshire Council said: “Love locks on bridges, while romantic, can be damaging to the bridge structure itself.
“The bridge over the Cowie in Stonehaven is rusting due to the locks that have been attached and we are asking people to come and reclaim their locks now that we have removed them.”
In 2015, similar measures were carried out at the Falls of Feugh bridge inBanchory due to concerns over the long-term impact of the extra weight.
Bridges across the country have been adorned with them since the craze kicked off on Paris’s Pont des Arts bridge. Almost 2,000 padlocks of all shapes, colours and sizes were locked to the footbridge on the Seine, eventually causing it to buckle under the weight.