Wednesday 18 August 2010

Lorry driver arrested after train crash

Perhaps we could have an educational scheme whereby lorry drivers are invited to sit in the cabins of trains to understand what it’s like from the train driver’s point of view when a lorry appears on the track at an unstaffed level crossing?

A tanker driver has been arrested after a collision between his vehicle and a passenger train on an unmanned level crossing which injured 21 people, one of them critically.

The two-carriage diesel train collided with the 44-ton heavy goods vehicle on Bures Road in Little Cornard, Sudbury, yesterday.

It is believed the 38-year-old lorry driver failed to contact rail authorities to inform them he was using the crossing. He has been arrested on suspicion of several railway safety offences.

Witnesses spoke of hearing a sound like a bomb explosion when the train and truck collided at 5.35pm, and then seeing dazed, bleeding passengers wandering around next to the track.