UK: Car Chase Driver "Seconds from Death" at Level Crossing

[John Ashworth]

The video can be seen at the Daily Telegraph link

Car smashes through level crossing barrier in high speed police chase

CCTV has been released of police chasing the driver of a stolen car as it crashes through a level-crossing moments before a train passes.

Daily Telegraph
1:16PM BST 15 Apr 2011

Terence Fowler, 20, went on the run in a stolen red Mercedes after an unmarked police patrol car indicated for him to pull over.

He led officers on a frantic chase through heavy traffic, hitting speeds of up to 90mph as he crossed onto the wrong side of the road to avoid speed cameras.

After a six mile pursuit Fowler approached a level crossing and accelerated through the closed barriers – smashing them to pieces.

Fowler, of March in Cambridgeshire, was jailed for three-a-half years at Peterborough Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage and obstructing an engine.

A dangerous driver who narrowly missed hitting a train as he smashed through a barrier during a high-speed police chase from Peterborough to Whittlesey was jailed yesterday (Thursday, 14 April).


Car Chase Driver "Seconds from Death" at Level Crossing

Police Specials
Posted 15 April 2011 - 10:10 AM

Terence Fowler (20), of Peyton Avenue, March, was caged for three-and-a-half years for a string of offences carried out in a six-mile chase from Peterborough city centre to Whittlesey.

Peterborough Crown Court was shown CCTV footage that revealed the terrifying moment on June 20 last year when Fowler crashed into level-crossing barriers at King’s Dyke, Whittlesey, just seconds before a 120-tonne train travelling at 75mph went through the junction.

Police began to chase Fowler on London Road after a red Mercedes he had taken from a friend to give a pregnant woman a lift into the city centre was reported stolen.

The unmarked police car followed Fowler as he swerved around cars, dodged oncoming traffic and clipped a wing-mirror as he made his way towards Whittlesey, topping 90mph.

At the level-crossing he appeared to stop, but burst through the barriers in front of the train, which was travelling from Stansted to Birmingham.

The car left debris scattered across the line which the engine collided with, hurling bits of metal gate into the waiting traffic.

As he passed the custodial sentence, Judge Nic Madge said: “It is hard to think of more dangerous driving which did not cause injury.

“You were extremely lucky. You were seconds away from a fatal collision with a train in which many people, including yourself, would have been killed or injured.

“In other words, if you had survived you were seconds away from a sentence of life imprisonment.

“I do not sentence you for what might have happened but for what you actually did. But I bear in mind it was a frightening experience for the train driver who saw the car flash across the level crossing moments in front of his train.”

Fowler, who was on licence from a young offenders institute, was first clocked by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera.

Two police officers caught up with him on London Road bridge and indicated for him to stop, but he fled, leading them on a terrifying chase.

The pursuit was caught on CCTV mounted in the police car.

It shows Fowler driving at high speeds in heavy traffic, regularly crossing onto the wrong side of the road.

At one point he drives on the right, apparently to avoid a speed camera.

The officers can be heard swearing on the tape as Fowler smashes into the wing-mirror of an Astra, sending it flying into the air.

Their voices get even more frantic as he approaches the closed level-crossing. The car windscreen was smashed in but he continued to drive to Whittlesey where he made his escape.

He was only caught in August when Dorset police charged him with assault and his DNA matched that of blood found on the smashed windscreen of the Mercedes.

At the hearing yesterday, Craig McDougall read the train driver’s statement. He said hitting debris on the line was “frightening” because the driver could do nothing.

He slammed on the brakes, but it takes about 700 metres to stop a 120-tonne train and so it passed through the crossing.

And the statement from the signalman was also read out. He said he could see the barriers on the line. He added: “The first thing that went through my mind was: ‘The train is going to derail and there is nothing I can do’. I was genuinely frightened for myself and the train.”

It cost £29,852.50 to repair the barriers and caused 476 minutes delay to trains in the Peterborough area, costing the train company £5,231.55.

Fowler pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage and obstructing an engine, but only after he heard “overwhelming” evidence against him.

In mitigation, his defence lawyer Caroline Allison told the court he fully understood the danger he had put everyone in.

She added: “I do not wish to detract from what is clearly a prolonged and very dangerous piece of driving.

“He does appreciate how scared people were and how serious these offences are.”

She added that he hopes to join the Navy and get his life back on track when he is freed,

Fowler was sentenced to serve 16-months concurrently in a young offenders institute for the aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving and obstructing an engine.

For the criminal damage he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years, also to run concurrently.

He was disqualified from driving for three years, had his licence endorsed and will have to sit an extended driving test.

Speaking after the case, detective inspector Michael Branston said: “Fowler showed total disregard for other road users, pedestrians and rail passengers as he tried to evade being caught by police.

“His actions put many lives at risk and he was lucky not to have been killed.”