You’ve hit the nail on the head there.Some pretty shocking failures there; it's only through sheer luck that an actual collision was avoided.
Whilst having a SPAD on your record shouldn't automatically mean instant dismissal or disqualification from applying for a driver role, clearly this driver did not have the required skills, or perhaps qualities, to be operating trains safely. As proven by the fact they now have two RAIB reports to their name!
There's also a worrying accountability gap here because, as with many RAIB reports, we are again reminded that decade-old recommendations have still not been fully implemented. It's no good having the RAIB simply make recommendations if they don't have the power to force companies to comply.
It's frankly astonishing that the rail network doesn't have more incidents, with so many holes in the Swiss cheese just waiting to line up...
Too many people think tpws is the magic bullet. There have been a few incidents in recent years where a major accident was only avoided by luck.