Road vehicle incursion at Wythall, Tues 06/10/2015

[richw]

Yep. It would make a big difference to NR if they could reclaim delay minutes from insurers, specifically in the case of bridge strikes.

Depends whether delay minutes are actual reflective of cost incurred. They'd probably be unsuccessful in claiming a random cost(if delay minutes cost isn't reflective of costs incurred), but if that cost was actual cost incurred of each minute of delay then they should be able to claim.

 

[talltim]

It's an actual cost to NR, i.e. they have a set amount of money they have to pay out for delays. Whether that reflects the true cost of the delay is a different matter.

 

[richw]

In that case as it's an invoice they receive from whoever as a direct cost of the incident there is no reason they shouldn't be able to claim it.

 

[CharlieSpotted]

Update on this from the Birmingham Mail:

Drink driver who careered onto railway line is banned from the roads

12:29, 21 OCT 2015 UPDATED 12:48, 21 OCT 2015
BY ANNETTE BELCHER

A drink driver who careered down a railway embankment and onto the tracks – narrowly missing an oncoming train – has been banned from the roads.

Rosie Webb downed three glasses of wine and had a row with her boyfriend before getting into her Seat Ibiza.

But the 20-year-old failed to negotiate a bend and hurtled down the embankment – forcing a train to stop just 40 metres from her car.

Redditch Magistrates’ Court heard that only the train driver’s quick reactions prevented a potential disaster when the alert happened near Wythall railway station on October 6.

Webb, of Gorse Road, Wolverhampton , admitted a charge of drink-driving.

She was banned from driving for 18 months, fined £300 and told to pay court costs of £315.

Mark Soper, prosecuting, said: “It was only down to the driver’s quick reactions that he managed to avoid colliding with the car.”

The court heard a resident came to Webb’s aid following the collision.

Jason Patel, defending, said Webb had not intended to drive but was ordered to leave her boyfriend’s home after a row.

He said: ‘Rosie and her boyfriend had gone for a meal with another couple that evening.

“They had a lovely evening but when they got back to the boyfriend’s address, they had an argument.

“The boyfriend asked her to leave and so he gave her no other recourse.

“She never had any intention to drive that evening but she foolishly got behind the wheel and deeply regrets this.

“That road is a swooping road and effectively Miss Webb has driven straight on.

“The inevitable driving ban will have an affect on her employment and getting to her employment.

“She may well lose her employment because of this.”

The emergency services released dramatic pictures of Webb’s lucky escape showing her car on the tracks with the train stopped nearby.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said at the time: “It is fortunate the woman was uninjured and the oncoming train managed to stop short of the incident.”

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/drink-driver-who-careered-onto-10304015

 

[SPADTrap]

Update on this from the Birmingham Mail:



http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/drink-driver-who-careered-onto-10304015

Well there is a lesson learned

 

[sprinterguy]

I suspect that this was regarded as a low-risk location that probably didn't justify significant expenditure. It may even be that the roadside furniture was expected to provide some sort of protection (lamp posts and CCTV poles tend to put up some resistance) but either didn't or was missed?

I suspect that all of the above is correct. It surprises me that the car managed to make it through the narrow gap offered between the street furniture in order to roll down the embankment in the first place.

It is somewhat telling of the frequently reactionary nature of the railways to accidents, through nearly two centuries of operation, though, that a brand new Network Rail standard, six foot high, green palisade fence has now popped up in place of the previous two-bar wooden example that previously protected this location.

 

[najaB]

...in place of the previous two-bar wooden example that previously protected this location.

Or didn't protect it, given that a car ended up on the tracks.