Police pursuit through closed level crossing

[John]

Video is on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13094294


Does anyone know if anyone was injured by the flying barriers and if the train stopped?

[Pilot]

Watch this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13094294
XC Class 170 nearly hits a Car that crashes through the Barriers of a Level Crossing in Peterborough after a Police Chase.

[PikkaBird]

Old.

[Pilot]

Old.

Why. Only released today.

[Griff]

Oh, Peterborough. Joy.

I actually recognise all of the route they take. It looks like it was the Kings Dyke crossing it plouged through.

EDIT: Apparently the train driver slammed on the brakes before the crossing but obviously was going too fast to prevent passing over the crossing. Also, it cost £29,852.50 to repair the barrier, "and caused 476 minutes delay to trains in the Peterborough area, costing the train company £5,231.55." although, since it wasn't CrossCountry's fault, why did they get fined for the delays?

If anyone is interested, the full police video and extensive article on the subject is here: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news ... _1_2595843

[lawton27]

Why. Only released today.

http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=54105

[Pilot]

Sorry Everyone.

[Born Acorn]

Did I merge this topic? Yes.

Was it pointless? Yes.

Why?

WHO KNOWS

[Dave]

Wow.

[PikkaBird]

There has been a lot of controversy in Australia over high-speed chases lately. In most states now, the police will abandon a chase once it gets dangerous (and 100mph up suburban streets is definitely dangerous), so things like this (hopefully) don't happen so often.

[andysine]

Wow! I'm surprised the guy didn't crash sooner - he was really close to a few of those cars (especially the one he took the wing mirror from!)

I wonder how the caught him? As Pikka says, prolonging the chase really adds to the risk of an accident, and I wonder why they set off in pursuit if they were able to catch him, presumably by other means?

[Griff]

"He was only caught in August when Dorset police charged him with assault and his DNA matched that of blood found on the smashed windscreen of the Mercedes."

Thus, a chase at the time was necessary.

[John]

Also if you listen to the radio conversations you can hear them calling for stingers and the police helicopter.

They were also unmarked, and asked control several times if they should continue the pursuit.

[andysine]

I've just read the original article from the Peterborough website. I find it astounding that the perpetrator only got given 16 months for the dangerous driving / theft, and 3 and a half years for the criminal damage. His driving could easily have killed someone, either directly or by derailing the train. It seems that because he was lucky this time, he gets away with a light sentence. The law in this country does seem to give harsher penalties for destroying / stealing a persons property than endangering other people's lives.

Also, the police officer driving is either extremely talented or incredibly reckless, and I'm not sure which? Watching the full video, just after 2:00, the police car speeds through 2 mini roundabouts at 55+ mph. In between the two roundabouts, there is a van and a car behind it. I dread to think what would have happened should that car have pulled out...