THE organisers of York's Millennium Bridge say it will NOT be dogged by the swaying problems which have hit London's equivalent.

The Millennium Bridge over the Thames has been shut to the public while engi-neers investigate the cause of vibration difficulties which saw it sway alarmingly over the weekend.

The Times implied on Monday that York's bridge over the River Ouse, due to open this autumn, would also have potential vibration problems and this had hugely increased the construction costs.

But the York Millennium Bridge Trust says this is quite untrue. "The York Mil-lennium Bridge is of a quite different and more rigid design," said chairman Sir Donald Barron.

"It is made of different materials and it uses a different technology. It has been subject to extensive independent and external testing by specialist engineering consultants at each stage of design and construction."

He said that the budget had included the anticipated costs of various checking and testing processes, and appropriate damping devices - which were about one per cent of the total budget.

The complexities of building a one-off, state-of-the-art bridge of "Millennial" quality had added a few months to the timetable.

"But we are well on the way to meeting our objectives of completing the bridge within the Millennium year and within our budget."