AN IRAQI asylum seeker has twice climbed over the railings on Dover's Jubilee Way viaduct this week and threatened to jump.

Officers from the Port of Dover and Kent Police forces were first called to the scene just after 4pm on Monday when the man was seen clinging to the bridge and threatening to jump into the Eastern Dock area.

Traffic was diverted away from the A2 as two police officers, one from each force, went to talk to the man and tried to persuade him to climb back over the railings to safety.

The man was crouching on the outside of the viaduct, and at one point he was standing on one leg and swinging out from the structure.

Eventually the officers managed to reach him, restrain him and bring him back to safety. He taken to a specialist ward attached to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital for assessment.

But on Tuesday afternoon Port of Dover police were alerted again when the man was seen climbing over the railings for a second time. Kent Police also attended and the road was closed for nearly three hours as officers negotiated with him.

He was eventually restrained and was detained by the police pending a decision by the Immigration authorities about his future. It is understood the man, who has been in this country for three years, was upset at being told he was being sent to Southampton, rather than being allowed to stay in Hastings.

He is not expected to face any criminal charges.