HOGWELL COLLISION CONVICTION SECURED

Friday 9 May 2003

HOGWELL COLLISION CONVICTION SECURED

Region & Route:: | Southern

Two men charged with endangering public safety at Hogwell railway crossing have been convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court. The men pleaded guilty to the sentence and admitted that they did not follow proper procedure at the crossing. PC Ian Anderson, British Transport Police said: “I am very pleased that the judge has recognised the severity of this incident. Railway crossings are 100% safe when used correctly. I hope that this case helps to prevent other accidents.” The defendants each received 100 hours of community service, due to their young age, good character and nature of the accident. No one was seriously injured, but this incident highlights the potential dangers of misusing railway crossings. Network Rail and its industry partners actively seek convictions for all railway crime offences. The maximum penalty for endangering life is life imprisonment.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

Media centre