Please help, im a little worried

[zinahardwick25]

Hi i was behind someone by the train tracks the barriers have gone to go up but only 3 have gone up and 1 stayed down the woman in front of me proceeded to stop and try and reverse I have tried to reverse gone back as far as I can and other cars wouldn't go back so the woman has driven around the barrier and so did I as we had been the a while and no one would move back, any advice of what might happen? Thanks

 

[zwk500]

For clarity, was this at a Level Crossing?

 

[zinahardwick25]

For clarity, was this at a Level Crossing?

Yes it was

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Are you at Llanelli level crossing? What has (now) happened? Is there a telephone at the crossing to contact the signaller?

 

[The exile]

There would almost certainly have been a notice by the crossing giving a number to call.

 

[zinahardwick25]

Are you at Llanelli level crossing? What has (now) happened? Is there a telephone at the crossing to contact the signaller?

It was at llanelli station

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Jul 2024 ==

Are you at Llanelli level crossing? What has (now) happened? Is there a telephone at the crossing to contact the signaller?

I was a panic and didn't see I just drove around

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Have you driven off the crossing?

 

[zinahardwick25]

Have you driven off the crossing?

Have you driven off the crossing?

Yes I drove around the barriers that was stuck down

 

[AlterEgo]

Stop talking about this on a public forum (using your real name too) and protect yourself.

 

[Gloster]

I am presuming that the situation was a level-crossiing with two lifting barriers on each side, effectively one at each corner. After a train passed three of the barriers rose normally but the fourth didn’t, this being the one over the section of road that you use to exit the crossing. The car in front of you and you moved forward to cross but found you could not exit the crossing due to the still-lowered barrier, nor could you reverse off the crossing as the cars behind had followed you on to the crossing. The car in front and then you manoeuvred around the still-lowered barrier to get off the crossing. Is this a correct description of the events?

 

[zinahardwick25]

I am presuming that the situation was a level-crossiing with two lifting barriers on each side, effectively one at each corner. After a train passed three of the barriers rose normally but the fourth didn’t, this being the one over the section of road that you use to exit the crossing. The car in front of you and you moved forward to cross but found you could not exit the crossing due to the still-lowered barrier, nor could you reverse off the crossing as the cars behind had followed you on to the crossing. The car in front and then you manoeuvred around the still-lowered barrier to get off the crossing. Is this a correct description of the events?

Yes this is correct, I'm a worried and didn't know how to word it

 

[AlterEgo]

Again, please do not talk about this or make any statements online or anywhere if or until the police decide there is a problem. Please protect yourself. You do not need to talk about this online.

 

[43066]

I am presuming that the situation was a level-crossiing with two lifting barriers on each side, effectively one at each corner. After a train passed three of the barriers rose normally but the fourth didn’t, this being the one over the section of road that you use to exit the crossing. The car in front of you and you moved forward to cross but found you could not exit the crossing due to the still-lowered barrier, nor could you reverse off the crossing as the cars behind had followed you on to the crossing. The car in front and then you manoeuvred around the still-lowered barrier to get off the crossing. Is this a correct description of the events?

Yes this is correct, I'm a worried and didn't know how to word it

It doesn’t really sound like you’ve done anything wrong. However there is clearly a fault with the crossing which needs reporting.

 

[Lampshade]

If the barriers were going UP then it sounds like it's nothing more than a fault with the barrier, nothing wrong on your part.

 

[357]

If the flashing lights were off and the siren was not sounding - all you have done is drive on the opposite side of the road to go around an obstruction (the 1 barrier that was stuck in the down position).

 

[Fawkes Cat]

If the barriers were going UP then it sounds like it's nothing more than a fault with the barrier, nothing wrong on your part.

I can't really agree here. Regardless of the legal position, trains are big heavy things with limited visibility for the drivers and braking systems that rely on the steel wheel on a steel rail - so a train might not be able to stop after seeing a car in its way.

So it's really important not to leave your car on the rails, because there's always a chance that a train will come along and not be able to stop in time to avoid a collision.

So if something like this happens again, don't drive on to the level crossing until your exit is clear - and that means really clear. Getting stuck on a level crossing isn't like getting stuck in a yellow box on the open road - which is also illegal but not of itself inherently dangerous.

As it happens, the Highway Code says at rule 291 that you should leave level crossings clear (https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/level-crossings.html#:~:text=A level crossing is where,, or near, a crossing. - I have no idea if this is the definitive text of the Highway Code). But I say to leave the crossings clear, not because of the law but to do otherwise in really dangerous.

 

[357]

So it's really important not to leave your car on the rails, because there's always a chance that a train will come along and not be able to stop in time to avoid a collision.

The signals for trains at this type of crossing can't be cleared for the driver until the crossing is mechanically and visually confirmed to be down.

The poster did not leave her car on the rails - they drove around the obstruction to clear the crossing in the safest and quickest way possible.

 

[norbitonflyer]

inded, going nose to tail across a level crossing is to be avoided. I try not to enter until the rear of the car ahead is at least my own vehicle's length beyond the other side of the crossing.

But if it's a crossing with barriers across the exit as well as the entrance it will be monitored (usually by CCTV) and the signals wiull not be cleared for a train until the operator can see that the crossing is clear of road vehicles.

 

[Trainman40083]

inded, going nose to tail across a level crossing is to be avoided. I try not to enter until the rear of the car ahead is at least my own vehicle's length beyond the other side of the crossing.

But if it's a crossing with barriers across the exit as well as the entrance it will be monitored (usually by CCTV) and the signals wiull not be cleared for a train until the operator can see that the crossing is clear of road vehicles.

Or possibly even LIDAR and RADAR obstacle detection equipment. . When they did an early trial on that equipment, the gates would not lower due to a seagull on the crossing (Haxby?)

 

[Purple Train]

If the flashing lights were off and the siren was not sounding - all you have done is drive on the opposite side of the road to go around an obstruction (the 1 barrier that was stuck in the down position).

I believe this to be correct - my copy of "Know Your Road Signs" explicitly states that it is the red flashing lights ("wig-wags") which must not be passed under any circumstances, rather than a failed barrier.

Or, in other words - in a hypothetical scenario where the wig-wags had failed, and were still flashing even with the barriers up and no trains in the vicinity, then it would definitely - I am at least sure of this - be unlawful to pass them. But there's nothing I can find which states that there is any legal issue with driving around a failed barrier (although, as ever, I am open to correction on this, particularly as my copy of "Know Your Road Signs" is fairly venerable, and as I am not a driver I do not have an up-to-date copy of the Highway Code).

I'm sure someone with a far greater knowledge of the law than I will be able to advise further.

 

[zinahardwick25]

Whats would be the worse case scenario?

 

[357]

Or, in other words - in a hypothetical scenario where the wig-wags had failed, and were still flashing even with the barriers up and no trains in the vicinity, then it would definitely - I am at least sure of this - be unlawful to pass them.

This is my understanding too.
In my experience, I've always been held back from a failed crossing until Network Rail staff arrive. Most recently, I passed one at caution once authorised and there was the MOM on one side stopping traffic and a police officer on the other side. Barriers were stuck up but lights and siren were working.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Jul 2024 ==

Whats would be the worse case scenario?

From what you have described - the worst case scenario is the person fixing the barrier might have got a little bit sunburnt.

 

[renegademaster]

I really hope the police have got better things to do than to prosecute people for driving over a level crossing that's malfunctioning even if you technically broke the rules

 

[LYradial]

There is video of the two crossings, west and east, on YouTube, cars move across the crossing as soon as the barriers start to lift,
all four at the same time, the lights still flashing but a close look seems to me the lights stop flashing before the barriers are fully settled in the raised position. Are the barriers proved to be lifted before the lights are extinguished?

 

[66701GBRF]

There is video of the two crossings, west and east, on YouTube, cars move across the crossing as soon as the barriers start to lift,
all four at the same time, the lights still flashing but a close look seems to me the lights stop flashing before the barriers are fully settled in the raised position. Are the barriers proved to be lifted before the lights are extinguished?

Barriers have to be proved to be raised to a certain degree before the lights go out.

 

[Trainman40083]

I seem to recall if the level crossing interlocking fails , the signal will not release for the trains. The train driver would proceed to the crossing at slow speed, if instructed to do so by the signalman. Now, we also have level crossings with red light cameras.

 

[swt_passenger]

inded, going nose to tail across a level crossing is to be avoided. I try not to enter until the rear of the car ahead is at least my own vehicle's length beyond the other side of the crossing.

Isn’t that exactly why most are marked in a very similar way to box junctions? Of course many motorists don’t take that advice either…

 

[Trainman40083]

Isn’t that exactly why most are marked in a very similar way to box junctions? Of course many motorists don’t take that advice either…

Yes, always leave an escape route

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Whats would be the worse case scenario?

That you get hit by a train and die.

Others have explained the many safeguards that should stop a train proceeding on to an open level crossing, but we have already seen in your case that one of these (the barrier) can fail. The other safeguards can also fail.

For sure, it may be staggeringly unlikely that enough of them could fail at once to put a car driver in danger, but one of the safeguards is in your control - not driving onto the crossing until your exit is clear. Abide by that safeguard and any failing of the railway shouldn't kill you on the level crossing.

 

[43066]

That you get hit by a train and die.

Others have explained the many safeguards that should stop a train proceeding on to an open level crossing, but we have already seen in your case that one of these (the barrier) can fail. The other safeguards can also fail.

That logic anyone applies to anyone driving across a level crossing in any condition, surely? The worst case scenario, if all the holes in the proverbial Swiss cheese line up, is being hit and killed by a train. That’s a good argument for closing level crossings, but I’m not sure what it adds to the OP’s question.

Some of the responses are OTT in my view. If anything I’d have urged them to contact network rail to report the fault. Hopefully that has already happened.