Lockington rail crash

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View of the accident site. The level crossing is at the top of the picture; the driveway that the van emerged from is at the upper left.

The Lockington rail crash occurred on 26 July 1986 at Lockington, Humberside (now in the East Riding of Yorkshire), England, when the 09:33 passenger train from Bridlington to Hull on the Yorkshire Coast Line hit a Ford Escort van on a level crossing. Eight passengers on the train, and a boy of 11 in the van, lost their lives.

Level crossing accidents are not uncommon, but usually the train is less affected than the road vehicle. At Lockington, however, the relatively light diesel multiple unit was derailed by the impact.

The level crossing was of the open type without barriers (known as an AOCR - Automatic Open Crossing, Remotely Monitored), having recently been converted from the traditional wooden gates. It was concluded that, as the driver had turned on to the road from an adjacent driveway, the red flashing lights had not caught his attention in the same way as if he had been approaching along the road. Policy on installing open crossings was reviewed as a result of the accident.