UK: Drunken level crossing worker jailed for 3 months

[John Ashworth]

Drunken level crossing worker jailed for 3 months

Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 November 2011 22.07 GMT

A railway worker found slumped unconscious in his box due to drinking alcohol while he was responsible for a busy level-crossing has been jailed for three months.

A district judge heard that Peter Singleton, 29, was almost three times the drink-drive limit and way over Network Rail's drinking limit when paramedics were called to the Crofton Crossing, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, last month.

Wakefield Magistrates' Court heard a colleague found Singleton on 18 October unconscious with a train waiting to cross. Singleton is an alcoholic but the district judge said he had no choice but to jail him. PA