Its ten years since a passenger train was derailed after hitting a land rover that had come off the M62 when its driver fell asleep at the wheel. Very tragic incident, but the divers comments HERE have left me seething. Specifically this load of toss 👿

“No deaths occurred at the point of impact with my Land Rover. They all occurred 700 yards down the track which I feel other people should have been held accountable for, so in my own head I’ve dealt with it in that fashion.”

Clearly he fails to realise that if his landy hadn’t been on the track in the first place then the incident would never had happened. But as long as he can pass the blame thats ok.
What a ****.

Don’t really see why he feels the need to say anything at all, unless it’s to apologise. He should just keep his mouth shut. Reprehensible in my opinion, especially saying it was fate and (to paraphrase) he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like those who died.

I do remember thinking the landy driver had been demonized a bit though,i know i have come close to nodding off a time or two.
I would reckon that more than a few folks on here have driven back from a twenty four hour race.
I would just say sorry and then stay out of the way.

“Tiredness kills. Take a break.” Yes, this means you.

I do remember thinking the landy driver had been demonized a bit though.

That’ll be because he was responsible for killing 10 people.

If you’re tired, you shouldn’t drive, just like you shouldn’t drive if you’ve been drinking. I have no sympathy for him. Especially now, he seems to be bleating about being held responsible.

hey i have no time for the bleating and agree with all your points i just think that he was unfortunate as well as being an idiot.

“No deaths occurred at the point of impact with my Land Rover. They all occurred 700 yards down the track which I feel other people should have been held accountable for”

I’d actually feel a bit of sympathy for him if he actually took responsibility for results of his decisions, but this is reprehensible. “…other people should have been held accountable for”? Who exactly does he think should be blamed for the fact people died as a result of an accident he caused? The train driver for hitting his car? The paramedics for not saving people? The victims for not manning up and surviving?

Maybe he’s been misquoted, but of the stuff I’ve seen so far, his attitude makes me question whether he should ever be allowed behind the wheel ever again.

Who exactly does he think should be blamed for the fact people died as a result of an accident he caused?

There was massive flaws found in the safety of bridges where traffic passes over, some of them had never changed since Victorian times.

He was never proved to have fallen asleep it was the only cause they couldn’t rule out for the crash, his internet activity the night before showed he’d hadn’t had much sleep.

So a driver , of a 4 wheel drive, could/should have just swerved the other way to avoid going down the embankment, just like the drivers of the 2 trains involved could have swerved to avoide the 4 wheel drive car.

A pig that was flying backwards over the railway told me that.

The driver of the 4 wheel drive obviously lives in some sort of Narnia, because obviously he is not in the real world.

Drac so who is going to pay to strengthen all the road over rail bridges ,the motorists who use them.

Drac so who is going to pay to strengthen all the road over rail bridges ,the motorists who use them.

Network Rail (or Railtrack) did in the months following the crash. All road-over-rail bridges were surveyed and those assessed to be at risk of the same sort of incident happening had barriers erected within about 18 months (and I do mean all, not just those on motorways, but those on rural lanes etc etc.)

So a driver , of a 4 wheel drive, could/should have just swerved the other way to avoid going down the embankment

Or he could have just followed the road. Regardless of issues with the barriers on the bridge, he’s the one who veered off and caused the accident. No-one’s saying he did it deliberately, but he should acknowledge that his carelessness caused the death of 10 people, instead saying it wasn’t his fault, it was fate, and it was other people’s fault.

If he’d been going down a busy road and lost control of his car for whatever reason and killed pedestrians on the pavement, it would have been his fault. If he’d lost control of his car and veered into a cyclist, or another car, any resulting damage or injury would have been his fault. He lost control of his car and ended up in the path of a train – still his fault.

Drac so who is going to pay to strengthen all the road over rail bridges ,the motorists who use them.

No Network Rail like Bob says although I’m sure I read at the weekend it’s still on going work.

You must live in Narnia as the car driver never mentioned anything about the train drivers swerving.

Drac, im pretty sure project was being sarcastic.

He was but the car driver has never blamed the train drivers.

MrsToast has it down to a tee.

He was a dickhead about it at the time IIRC – obviously most people can sympthise to a degree with nodding off at the wheel, but he was talking all this bollox about not needing as much sleep as others (in response to being up all night on tinternet).

Drac – Moderator

“He was never proved to have fallen asleep it was the only cause they couldn’t rule out for the crash, his internet activity the night before showed he’d hadn’t had much sleep.”

But also, he blamed a mechanical failure which was disproven by the reconstruction IIRC, and he didn’t brake at all during the crash.

But also, he blamed a mechanical failure which was disproven by the reconstruction IIRC, and he didn’t brake at all during the crash.

Yeah there was a few things he tried including what Garry_Lager said. He was a bigger arse at the time claiming all sorts, in reality it was his fault he left they found nothing to say anything else had caused it.

Clearly he has little obvious remorse, coming out with that sort of self centred rubbish. Shows little compassion for those who survived / those who lost family and loved ones.

well if he killed my one of my loved ones, well to be honest, i mite do him so considerable harm, witch wouldn’t be my fault, as it would the 3 oz of lead that would cause the accident!

The owner of the bridge is the the company or person who built or required the bridge to be built, as the bridge in question is carrying the motorway, and motorways were not there when the railway was built it is then the highways agency that pays, eg our road tax.

I used to work with one of the drivers on the freight train, Steve “George” Dunn when he worked at Birmingham New Street. Big, gentle West Country Bear of a man. Left to go driving the freight ‘oop North’. It was a huge shock when we found out he had died. His funeral at Selby Abbey was a fitting tribute to the man, one thing the railway does well is give one of it’s own a send off. A glorious Spring day, the Abbey full of people, by turns heartbreaking and hilarious as anecdotes were read out about a man who couldn’t help but brighten the dullest work day. I remember once when i was travelling back into Birmingham on some empty coaching stock with him and we came to a stand not far outside New St at a red signal with the canal adjacent. There was a chap out walking his dog and Steve said to me “ere George, watch this” (he called EVERYONE George, hence his nickname, apart from my mate who is Scottish, he was McGeorge), and with that he walked over to the window and called to the dog walker in his West Country tones “excuse me, we’re trying to get to Birmingham, do you know if this is the right way or not?” The dog walker was so caught out he actually said “….er…yeah, i THINK that’s the track into Birmingham….” I was really happy when it was shared with the congregation at the funeral. He was a top man and one of those railway characters who people from all over the network would have heard stories about, a true legend. They don’t make ’em like that any more…

Quite a decent railway photographer IIRC and clearly enjoyed his work.

poor bloke, i think they named a train after him, that guy, the **** that killed him should have got much longer!

Shame the insensitive bastard didnt die in his bloody landrover when the train hit it. Arsehole.

I think the guy is living in a fantasy land – I remember the trial and all the media stories at the time. He was claiming he needed hardly any sleep and was able to drive hundreds of miles on a couple of hours sleep, and seemed quite proud that he did it regularly.

How insensitive can you get!