A disabled man who survived being hit by a 100mph train says he wants safety barriers installed at the Kelvedon level crossing.And why was he hit by a train? A malfunction in his mobility scooter, perchance?
Tony Winskill, 43, was sat at the crossing last month when the high-speed train hit the front of his mobility scooter and sent him flying backwards.Ah. No, the malfunction was clearly in the driver…
The father-of-four said: "I didn't realise fast trains go through there as well. Normally I sit there and watch the slow trains go past. "
He’s not a very lucky man.
The accident left him with a fractured left leg and two torn tendons, as well as cuts and bruises. This is not his first clash though, as he was seriously hurt when a Volvo hit him at 65mph a few years ago.Of course, Something Must Be Done:
"Next time it might be a mother and her children," he said.Or, they could just put your mangled scooter there with a sign saying ‘Yes, we mean it.’
"There should be full-length barriers put across to stop anyone getting on the track."
It’s used in Yosemite to warn tourists what’ll happen if you leave food in cars when bears are around, after all.
11 comments:
Reminds me of the old joke about the man who was standing right on the platform edge at Piccadilly Circus Underground Station .. and when warned by a member of staff to step back as "the airflow from the train might suck him off" ..
Replied (allegedly)..
"Well .. come on Train" .. ;)
... sat at the crossing ...
sounds so reasonable, so innocent, so blameless, but to be accurate it should read
... sat ON the crossing ...
which was bloody stupid.
(Was it a case of "I'm disabled, I can park anywhere!" ?)
Must scan in the old Streube Cartoon from 39-45 war album "Oh look here comes a bomb" .... "Why didn't they warn me it would explode!"
Love the syntax though, perhaps it should also read "he was in collision with a Volvo which was travelling at 65mph" Cars are inanimate anyway - so by their own volition have rarely lashed out at anyone or thing.
Presume that at 43, the need for a mobility scooter this is linked to the collision with a Volvo car. I know a 44 y/o who ended up using a scooter after a car crash, but found it so embarrassing that she (re-)learned to cycle and now uses a trike (30mph on good downhill runs) - and got rid of the scooter (top speed on road - 8mph).
Post thought - two strikes and will evolution eventually sort this one out?
I'm having trouble understanding this one. He was sitting there to watch a "slow train" go by? How close was he sitting to get hit by a "fast train"? I mean, they're the same width. It's the same track. I accept that a fast train may be a few inches wider than a slow train perhaps, but this seems to me that "watching a train go by" is synonymous with "having it whistle past my nose".
Is this man very, very short sighted?
"
"Well .. come on Train" .. ;)"-Capt.H
There is probably a website for...
Rule 34 is absolute.
Does give a horrible new meaning to 'mind the gap' though.
"Normally I sit there and watch the slow trains go past. "
At last, someone who's too stupid to open a book or even turn on a television. His washing machine must captivate him.
Winskill? Earnedkilling, more likely.
Put up the barriers. Make his family pay for them. Fixed.
"I didn't realise fast trains go through there as well. Normally I sit there and watch the slow trains go past" ...
I wonder whether he had time to get the fast train's number .. to go in the little book, which he normally keeps in his anorak pocket ?
"I'm having trouble understanding this one. "
I had to read it a couple of times too!
"At last, someone who's too stupid to open a book or even turn on a television. His washing machine must captivate him."
Heh!
Googling the chap's name brings other versions of the same story, which shed a slightly different light on events -
For instance, The Sun: "Sources from the emergency services at the scene said Tony appeared to have been drinking." and quoting his son: “He has had a few near misses in the past driving round in his scooter, but this is the most serious one by far.”
Perhaps less of a gormless train spotter, more of a drunken accident waiting to happen?
Editor: "Right, we need an idiot story for page six"
Journalist: (reaches for one off the big pile on his desk)
Welcome to modern Britain!
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