The driver of a cement mixer that crashed off a bridge on to a passing train has been fined £100 and had five penalty points added to his licence.

Petru Achim, 35, of Hook in Hampshire, was driving the cement mixer that crashed through a bridge wall on Warren Lane in Oxshott, at 3.30pm on November 15, last year, plunging 35 feet down on to a passing train.

Remarkably, nobody was killed in the crash, although the vehicle hit the back two carriages of the train which had just left Oxshott station.

Achim, a Romanian national, and another passenger were taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries, while other passengers needed treatment for minor injuries.

During sentencing at Staines Magistrates' Court on Thursday, June 2, Achim, who pleaded guilty via post last month, was told he would also have to pay a £15 victim surcharge and £43 in costs for driving without due care and attention.

The Elmbridge Guardian understands Achim no longer works for Wimbledon-based haulage company Kingman Services, who he was working for when the crash happened.

He had been transporting material being used for the £4.5m redevelopment of Epsom station.

A spokesman for Kingman Services refused to comment on the incident.

Achim was also fined a further £100, after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the proper use of recording equipment on the day the crash occurred.

The crash caused traffic chaos during the Friday evening rush hour, with traffic jams leading back to the M25 while emergency services dealt with the wreckage.

An investigation into the crash by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch is still ongoing.

Window-fitter George Palmer, 16, was driving in his van behind the cement mixer with his friend, when the vehicle careered off the bridge on to the train.

He said: “We followed him off the motorway. He scraped the brick wall and tried to correct it, but he didn't want to go into the on-coming traffic.

“He clipped the wall, then fell down and the weight of the cement mixer pulled the vehicle down. It was the back end which went first. It was like something out of a movie, I couldn’t believe it.

“We ran out of the van and debris was everywhere. We could see him hanging out of the cabine, but we didn’t want to look.”