12:46pm Wednesday 1st July 2009
By Ian Mason
This was the scene outside Mortlake station after an impatient van driver crashed through the railway barrier - just hours before transport chiefs and police arrived to promote safety at the site.
The Sheen Lane level crossing was targeted by Network Rail and British Transport Police (BTP) after the rail operator’s records exposed it as one of the most misused in Great Britain.
During a two-hour operation at the crossing last Thursday, BTP officers issued eight enforcement actions - some were fixed penalty notices and some were cautions - to pedestrians caught “trespassing” on the tracks and to drivers trying to run the lights.
A Network Rail spokesman added that two days after the safety campaign, the rail company had to call police to remove a motorbike that had been left parked against a downed barrier - it is thought the driver may have quickly ran into a nearby shop.
He said staff also caught a passenger on CCTV running across the tracks to catch a train arriving at the opposite platform at about midnight on Saturday.
“It just goes to show that this kind of thing happens day in day out somewhere on the railway network,” he explained.
“It happens more often than we would like.”
Network Rail was called by police officers at 11.40am last Thursday to reports that a van had crashed through the barriers at Mortlake’s level crossing.
Although the vehicle was cleared within minutes, train drivers had to be guided through the area until about 1.45pm, when a repair crew finished fixing a damaged barrier.
A BTP spokesman confirmed: “A 30-year-old man has been reported for intended prosecution for careless driving and failure to stop at a traffic signal in connection with the incident.”
Before Thursday’s safety campaign, Network Rail recorded four reported incidents of misuse, including two occasions when a vehicle struck one of the barriers, within three months.
Richard O’Brien, Network Rail’s route director for Wessex, said: “Jumping the gates, swerving around barriers and ignoring warning signs is sadly a sight we see all too often, and in many cases with tragic outcomes.
“We were out at Mortlake where there is a high level of misuse to try and hit home the message that running the risk at a level crossing is just not worth it.
“By trying to save a few seconds, you could end up losing your life.”
To learn more about the company’s level crossing safety campaign “Don’t Run the Risk” visit networkrail.co.uk.
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