Driver fined over crossing stunt

Recommended 171 times

Recommend it

11 March 2010 at 11:04

A motorists has been fined after being caught taking a "stupid and dangerous" risk at a railway crossing.

CCTV captured Douglas Hall jumping a red light in his Audi TT at a Metro rail crossing at Callerton, near Newcastle, and narrowly avoiding an oncoming train.

Hall was handed nine penalty points on his licence and ordered to pay a £400 fine plus costs at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.

The court heard the train driver was forced to make an emergency stop to avoid Hall's vehicle in May last year.

Jeremy Forsberg, from the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative, said: "It is unbelievable that someone would take such a stupid and dangerous risk.

"This was a seriously misjudged manoeuvre and lacks any consideration for anyone else.

"The driver showed such a disregard for not only his own safety but also the safety of the train operator and the scores of passengers expecting a safer journey on the Metro.

"A car isn't going to win against a train, but there will certainly be a lot of people on board who will get hurt."

Copyright © Press Association 2010

Links

RAC Homepage - http://www.rac.co.uk/

RAC Car insurance - http://www.rac.co.uk/insurance/car/

RAC motoring forum - http://forum.rac.co.uk/

RAC Know-How - http://www.rac.co.uk/knowhow/

Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative - http://www.safespeedforlife.co.uk/default.asp