Train driver nearly hit by concrete block thrown from bridge near Meols Cop station

[DarloRich]

Well during the miners strike a couple of people got sentenced for murder for throwing a concrete block off a motorway bridge and killing a taxi driver who was carrying a miner to work. Although in this case there it might have been easier to prove intent to cause death or serious injury I don't see a huge amount of difference. Drop a concrete block through the front cab of a moving train and you expect to cause injury to the driver. Dropping something from a bridge into the front of a trains is a bit different from general stone throwing where the consequences vs intent may be slightly harder to prove.

It sounds like these idiots were targeting the front of the train and therefore trying to injure the driver. It should be way up the scale.

It was the killing of David Wilkie that led to the conviction of two miners for murder with a life term. One man acquitted. The conviction was reduced to one of manslaughter on appeal with a sentence of 8 years and I would suggest that several of the more "frothy" correspondents read that judgement as it has become a leading case on the differences between murder and manslaughter. R v Hancock [1985] UKHL 9 is the case citation for anyone interested.

I am not suggesting that this isn’t anything other than a shocking crime and that the perpetrators should be found and convicted. I just have some understanding as to how those seeking a conviction go about getting one and what is a realistic result!

 

[Llama]

This is down to the driver, the signaller and the company control will ask the driver if they are fit to continue, if they say yes then they can go. By reading this I suspect the rock went through the 2nd mans side screen and not the drivers because they will not be permitted to continue if the screen is broken on the driver's side unless it is safe to do so and then you will need a competent person to sit with you who signs the route as a driver. The other scenario of course is that the driver was taken off and a replacement provided.

The driver has only been qualified a few months. Rock went through the destination blind porthole on the upper front of the 142. He was only two minutes from Southport (destination), he worked it back to Manchester although I think it was terminated short, possibly for other reasons.

The bigger operational issue as a result of the incident was the fact that the rock went right through the cab (unit would have been travelling at the line speed of only 20mph) and went through the cab door into the passenger compartment. Questions should be asked about how an object can penetrate not only the cab but the passenger environment on a unit at such low speed.