Driver avoids crossing crash
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by John Bell • The driver of an artic which crashed through a level-crossing barrier and straddled the railway line with a train bearing down just managed to back off the line in time, a court heard last week.
The drama was described at York Crown Court after the driver of the sugar-beet truck, Christopher Wilson, admitted careless driving.
Wilson of Sunnyside, Kirkmoorside, N Yorks claimed he was blinded by a low sun as he approached the level-crossing near York last November.
Prosecutor Nick Barker said Wilson was travelling to the York sugar-beet factory for the third time that day but the barriers were down and the red lights flashing. Having failed to notice the barriers until the last minute, he braked heavily, skidded through the barriers, and came to a standstill straddling the track, he said.
The court heard that the driver of the Harrogate to York train, which was just 200m away applied, the emergency brakes. Fortunately Wilson was able the reverse the artic off the track just in time. The train carried on a further 200m before coming to a halt.
Martin Todd for Wilson said it was not a case of trying to jump the barrier, he had simply failed to pick it up out of the sunlight.
Recorder Peter Armstrong fined Wilson £200 and imposed three penalty points.