Almost 300 day trippers were marooned on a cruise ship in Salford Quays for more than an hour after a new £11m bridge failed to open properly.

The boat was left stranded a few hundred yards from its destination because a technical problem with the new MediaCity swing bridge meant it could not pass through to dock.

The ship, operated by Mersey Ferries, was taking passengers on a six-hour cruise along the Manchester Ship Canal from Liverpool.

Around 270 passengers were stuck on-board for 90 minutes until the boat was eventually moored to the quayside and they were let off.

The pedestrian footbridge, which connects BBC buildings at MediaCity UK to Trafford Wharf near the Imperial War Museum, was fixed shortly afterwards.

Dave Thomas, from Rochdale, who was on-board the ship when the bridge failed, said: “We found it funny and a bit ironic that we passed through about six old-fashioned wooden locks on the journey with no problem, but we were stopped about 300 yards from docking because the multi-million pound footbridge didn’t work.”

Mr Thomas, 61, said he was with a party of around 20 people from Bury and Rochdale who were stranded on the boat.

Many of the passengers were from Liverpool and were supposed to have a two-hour shopping trip before returning home on a coach.

A spokesman for Mersey Ferries said the travellers were offered free refreshments while they waited to disembark.

The 85 metre-long landmark bridge, funded by the North West Development Agency, was designed to pivot to allow ships and barges to manoeuvre in and out of the nearby docks.

A spokesman for Peel Holdings, which manages the bridge, said: “The problem was caused by a technical issue with the bridge which was resolved after about 90 minutes. The bridge is now operating normally.”