A Crewe – Holyhead DMU passenger train running at 45mph struck and wrecked
a Vauxhall Victor saloon car which was going over an unclassified level
crossing which connected two farms and a private house on one side of the
railway with the main road on the opposite side. The only occupant of the
car, a local farmer, was killed although nobody on the train was injured.
After an Up train had drawn away, the crossing keeper simply opened the
gates to road traffic rather than looking at her train indicators a second
time to establish that there was not another train coming. Had she done
so she would have seen the approach of a Down train was being displayed on
the second indicator. The accident was therefore the result of human error
on the part of the elderly crossing keeper (who subsequently gave up her
position of gatekeeper. No details of the type of DMU involved in the
accident is provided in the official report.
