UPDATE: 7.28pm

THE man has come down off the bridge and has been taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital to be checked over, said a Gwent Police spokesman.

UPDATE: 5.00pm

A POLICE spokesman said following an allegation of shoplifting at 3.35pm today in the city centre, police officers chased a man from the city centre and he ran to the bridge and climbed onto it.

Police then contacted other emergency services and there are now trained police negotiators trying to get the man down. South Wales Fire and Rescue and SARA are in attendance and no-one is allowed on the bridge.

UPDATE: 4.01pm

EMERGENCY services have been called to reports of a man in a "precarious position" on the Millennium footbridge near the University of South Wales campus in Newport city centre.

A spokeswoman for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said they received a call from police at 3.30pm today and crews from Malpas and Maindee are at the scene assessing the situation.

A spokesman for HM Coastguard said they had received a call from the fire service at 3.50pm and were liaising with police to find out more information.

The Argus has contacted Gwent Police for a comment.