Network Rail fined £500k over level-crossing collision
Network Rail fined £500k over level-crossing collision 01 July 2013 A 10-year-old boy suffered life-changing injuries when a train hit the vehicle he was in at a level crossing, the dangers of which had been known to Network Rail for a decade. Network Rail was fined £500,000 following the incident, which happened on 3 July 2010 at a level crossing between Beccles station and Oulton Broads South station in Suffolk.
The sentence hearing at Ipswich Crown Court on 27 June also saw the company, which had pleaded guilty at Lowestoft Crown Court in March to a breach of s3(1) of the HSWA 1974, told to pay costs of £23,421. The boy was a passenger in a pick-up truck, which was being driven along a private road that crosses the East Suffolk line at Barnby, near Beccles. The level crossing is unmanned and the gate has to be opened manually. A train travelling at 55mph struck the vehicle as it negotiated the crossing, causing it to spin out of control. The boy, who was thrown out of the vehicle, sustained serious injuries, while the driver of the car escaped with minor injuries.
