A bridge between the Isle of Man and Liverpool, made up by the Liverpool Echo as an April Fool, has mistakenly been included in a book about the world’s longest bridges.

The Alf Priolo bridge is said to be 432,960ft long and be the third longest in the world, running between the island and Liverpool, by the Handbook of International Bridge Engineering.

But the bridge, which is an anagram of April fool, was invented by the Liverpool Echo for an April Fool’s day story in 2008.

In the prank story the Echo said: ’Tourism and business chiefs on the island have given an early thumbs up to the ambitious plan for the 82-mile long structure.

’It would stretch from Liverpool’s waterfront to the Isle of Man’s capital, Douglas, and finally give motorists the option of driving across the Irish Sea, rather than flying or taking a ferry.’

The story went on to say that a campaign had started on the island to name the structure the Alf Priolo Bridge after a distinguished 19th century Manx engineer.

There was even a quote from island tourism minister at the time, Adrian Earnshaw, who was said to have commented: ’The construction of this bridge will be a massive undertaking and a world first, so we are very proud and optimistic that this project will be a success.’

But now an Echo reader has contacted the paper to tell them that the bridge has been included in the book.

The reader told the Echo: ’Amusingly, the Handbook of International Bridge Engineering - printed and used with a table of the world’s longest 100 bridges - contains your fictional bridge at number three.’

The book, published in 2013, is said to be a ’resource for structural and bridge engineers, researchers, and students with a need for a single reference source’.

At 82 miles long, it would be nearly four times longer than the world’s current longest road bridge, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Southern Louisiana, which covers a distance of 23.87 miles and over twice as long as the Channel Tunnel, which is 34.1 miles long.