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Man dies after car struck by train at Waterloo Road crossing in Wokingham
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Waterloo Road level crossing death 'not suspicious'

By Hugh Fort
March 08, 2010

Rail chaos came to Wokingham after a driver died when his car was hit by a train on a level crossing.

The 58-year-old man, believed to be from Bracknell, was pronounced dead at the scene, after the red Vauxhall Corsa he was driving was struck by the train in Waterloo Road, Wokingham, at around 11am on Saturday.

Driver dies at Wokingham level crossing

None of the 110 passengers on the train, the 10.42am from Reading, were injured.

After the incident the lines between Wokingham and Ascot were closed for several hours.

Fire crews, police, ambulance staff and incident response teams from South West Trains all went to the incident.

The car was removed later in the afternoon by fire crews, who had to cut the roof off and use winching equipment to get it off the tracks.

It was removed after the passengers had been taken to Bracknell on buses.

The train was damaged and taken to a depot in Wimbledon to be repaired.

Staff from South West Trains were there until the evening repairing the tracks.

The driver of the train was not hurt, but is being provided with support after the incident.

The name of the man who has died has yet to be released and British Transport Police say the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Were you on the train? Contact our newsdesk on (0118) 918 3030 or email editorial@wokingham-times.co.uk.

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my sympathy goes to daves family. Dave was a kind gentleman, thoughtful and caring. I shall miss him as we both worked at the same yard. God Bless

kim chalker
11/03/2010 at 19:39

I use this crossing every week and it's perfectly safe if you stop when the lights flash and the barriers come down. Too many people jump the lights and that's when problems occur. (not as many that jump the lights at star lane, but that's another issue).

I Live Here!, Right Here!
10/03/2010 at 11:32

if there was even the slightest chance the barriers were malfunctioning the line would not have been reopened so quickly

ritchierat, brighton
09/03/2010 at 10:19

I was on the train. The circumstances obviously were tragic. After spending two hours on the train, about which I have no problem, we were bussed to Bracknell station. Why Bracknell, when trains to London were only from Ascot, which we did not find out until we had been left at Bracknell. The staff at the station could not even tell when the replacement bus service would arrive. I and two other passengers paid for a taxi to take us to Ascot. The train staff and the emergenciy services at the scene were excellent, but the arrangements after left much to be desired.

John Tweed
08/03/2010 at 20:10

"blinded by the sun momentarily" or not driving to the conditions? The flashy lights and barriers give quite a clue, and surely given the warning road signs of approaching a level crossing, one pays more attention?

Spanky
08/03/2010 at 13:53

MH - the accident with the young woman being blinded by the sun was at the next crossing along - Star Lane.

LarryS
08/03/2010 at 13:50

regardless of why this particular accident happened, these crossings should be manned - not automatic.

I know that there was an accident about 7 or 8 years ago on this crossing - a girl died in her car when it crashed through the barriers and the inquest found that the most likely cause of the accident was the girl's vision being blinded by the sun momentarily. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the same cause for this accident.

very sad, anyway

MH, deepest darkest Woodley
08/03/2010 at 12:45

Ritchierat, since the article doesn't say the barriers were down/red lights flashing there's a chance (very slight I agree) that there might have been a malfunction/error with the barriers. Hence MrE's concern.

Friday's child, Reading
08/03/2010 at 11:28

i am a train driver and yes MrE of crowthorne level crossings are safe to use if you use them properly...it seems that some people are in too much of a hurry

ritchierat, brighton
08/03/2010 at 10:57

Trains can not just 'stop' in a matter of metres no matter how slow they are going.

hornbeam, reading
08/03/2010 at 10:09

A tragic story! But how can this happen?? Did the driver swerve around the barriers when they were down or was he innocently crossing the tracks and got slammed into?? Was there a barrier failure? Are these crossings safe for us to use ??