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Car thief cheats death in daring getaway bid
The scene at the damaged level crossing.
A RECKLESS criminal crashed through gates at a level crossing in a desperate bid to escape police during a high speed chase.
The driver of a stolen Mercedes Benz put hundreds of lives at risk when they ignored the barrier’s warning signal of an approaching train at the Kings Dyke railway crossing on the A605 near whittlesey at 2.45pm yesterday.
Eyewitness reports suggest that the train was just nine seconds away as the stolen car crashed through the barriers.
Shocked passengers on the Cross Country train felt a jolt as the train collided with debris left across the track .
The red Mercedes, which had been taken from a house in March that morning, was later found abandoned in Woolpack Lane, Whittlesey, and police were last night trying to track down the driver.
Despite colliding with the damaged gate, the train continued on to Peterborough train station where engineers confirmed that it was fit to continue the journey to Birmingham.
Passenger Ben Truslove, who boarded the train at Peterborough, said: “After we got on to the train we were told that there was a delay because of an accident on the Whittlesey crossing. We were told that they were checking to see if the driver and the train were fit to continue, and that it was thought that the train had clipped the rear end of a police car.”
It was later found that no car had hit the train and officials performed safety checks and assessed that the driver was in a fit state to continue the journey – a Cross Country service from Stansted airport.
The dramatic incident put hundreds of lives at risk. Ashin Kumar, rail director for transport watchdog Passenger Focus, said: “The reckless behaviour of these criminals not only put their own lives at risk but also the lives of hundreds of passengers on the train. We hope they are apprehended quickly.”
The stolen car was spotted by police officers after it drove past an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera in Whittlesey.
A police spokesman said: “Police were in pursuit of the car when it came to the barrier.
“Although there was a train heading for the crossing at the time the driver broke through the gate.
“This meant the police car was unable to safely cross over until the train had safely passed.
“By that time the stolen car had driven away, but it has since been recovered in Whittlesey.
“It had been abandoned on Woolpack Lane and no arrests have been made.”
Anybody with any information should contact Cambridgeshire Police on 0345 456 4564 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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Comments
There are 18 comments to this article
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Veritas of Peterborough
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 09:46 PMI am not blaming the police, of course the person at fault was the thief but the question that has to always be asked is whether the police response was proportionate. The lives of hundreds of rail passengers, and even the thief who took the car, was endangered. The police officers who pursued the car should be able to justify why they chose that course of action. Let's not forget that two innocent pedestrians were killed when they were hit by a police car responding to an incident in Bedfordshire earlier this month. Also, Garreth Moore, a passenger in a car, died in Peterborough back in 2005 as a result of a police pursuit. The police are not infallible and do make mistakes. Hence the need for accountability.
Jst
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 04:06 PMVeritas - you appear completely detached from reality... The police are far more accountable already then any organisation that I can think of. The only person to blame for this incident and the risk created is the driver of the car. Police pursuits are strictly controlled and are conducted as safely as possible, the pursuit drivers undertake weeks of training as do control room staff. No-one could have predicted that the driver would crash through the barrier and it appears that after doing this the police have terminated the pursuit as it became too dangerous. The driver could have chosen to do a U turn or hand himself in - the decisions made were his. I am confident that the police would love nothing more than to bring this idiot driver to justice, and I am sure that everything possible will be done to locate him... ie. forensics and intelligence being used to identifiy who was driving. The police only puruse vehicles that fail to stop in very limmited circumstances i.e when the identity of the driver is not known or for serious crime.
Bocaj
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 10:44 AMI totally agree Giger. It's amazing that the driver of the stolen car put people's lives at risk, pedestrians, other road users, the train driver and all of his passengers, and not forgetting the police officers' lives... only for comments to be made about what the police should or shouldn't have done! If the people who slate the police at every opportunity (sorry, EMPLOY, the police) are such experts I wonder why they didn't apply to join? In some comments no mention is made of the one person who put all those lives at risk! Unbelieveable.
giger
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 08:23 AMI can't believe the comments posted here by some - they watch Road Wars or Police Interceptors and assume they know how the police force work and should do better. Stingers can only be used in very controlled circumstances and they have to be sure they know wher ethe car is going, not something you can generally do in a built up area. There also surely has to be sufficient resource and the need to do so. Surely you can not pre-empt criminals crashing through a closed train barrier and equally up until a minute before it may have been unknown that the crim were heading for the crossing.
T1234
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 04:16 PMWhy are there always comments about taxes and being police employers whenever a story like this appears? Do people forget that police officers also have to pay tax? Does this mean they pay their own wages and are self employed?
MrAngry
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 03:40 PMPlease dont attack the police. The ONLY person at fault here is the idiot thief. If it was your car that had been stolen and it was spotted, you would expect the police to go get it back! He should have stopped lets face it. I saw the chase and they were way back. They were using a camera from what I understand. What should they have done, he did not stop when they flashed their lights and chose to speed up! I suspect the helicopter was unavailable for some reason as they usually use it. (probably due to costs) and it was not even out later when they were looking for him. Someone knows who he is and should give him up
Veritas of Peterborough
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 12:37 PMTrue - but as Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, recently said " It is about being servants, not masters: the police are there as public servants.' As such they are accountable to us for their actions, and that is something that this coallition government is determined to bring about.
dcmat
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 12:29 PMVeritas - we may fund the police through our taxes, but we are not their employers
Veritas of Peterborough
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 12:11 PMWhittleseyWanderer - I am not taking cheap shots at the police force - I am just questioning why a chase was necessary, that could have endangered rail passengers lives. I am glad that David Cameron has decided to reform the police force and has promised less ministerial interference. However, the price for this is that the police will have to make themselves more accountable for their actions to us, their employers.
Tell It Like It Is
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:59 AMThey should have done what the police in the USA do - ram the damn car off the road and tough luck on the driver....
WhittleseyWanderer
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:38 AMVeritas of Peterborough There is a simple reason that the police had to give chase rather than radioing ahead. There are no police permanently stationed in Whittlesey so body to radio ahead to. Stop taking cheap shots at the Police whose job is hard enough thanks to the constant meddling of politicians. They don't need people like you getting on their back aswell.
Outcast
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:24 AMComment removed by moderator
The Editor
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:15 AMA fox driving a stolen Mercedes Benz put hundreds of lives at risk when it ignored the barrier’s warning signal of an approaching train at the Kings Dyke railway crossing on the A605 near whittlesey at 2.45pm yesterday. DCI Halfwit from the city's Keystone cops said 'It most probably occurred because foxes are colour blind and he didn't notice the barriers. We would urge people not to lend cars to foxes under any circumstances"
Bocaj
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:14 AMAgreed ChakaD, and if the police didn't go after the car they would be slated for doing nothing!
ChakaD
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:07 AMVeritas of Peterborough, what a load of tosh. How could they set up a stinger if there wasnt someone following them telling the other officers where they are going? Let me guess, just another excuse for a cheap shot at the police....
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