UK - tractor hit by train

[John Ashworth]

Tractor driver has 'miraculous escape' after being hit by train on level crossing
Mail online
By Wil Longbottom
Last updated at 2:02 AM on 20th July 2008

A tractor driver suffered serious injuries tonight when his vehicle was hit by a passenger train on a level crossing.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said the 23-year-old man was 'lucky to be alive' after the accident at Weston Rhyn, near Oswestry, Shropshire, at 4.50pm.

A spokesman for the ambulance service confirmed that the train, which was carrying 17 passengers, was not derailed by the crash.
Tractor and train crash

Ambulance Officer Cliff Medlicott, who attended the incident, said the tractor had suffered a 'huge' amount of damage and was moved along the track a short distance by the train.

The tractor driver suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries to his head and chest, as well as a fractured wrist, and was taken to the Maelor Hospital in Wrexham.

Mr Medlicott, of West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: 'There were a total of 17 passengers, the train driver and a guard on the train, which was travelling from Oswestry to Wrexham.

'By good fortune, a doctor from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital was on board and assisted ambulance crews.

'Thankfully the only other injury was to a female passenger who was treated at the scene for minor neck pain.

'This had the potential to be a much more serious incident - thankfully it wasn't.'

Two ambulances, four paramedic officers, a rapid response vehicle and the County Air Ambulance from Cosford, Shropshire, were jointly sent to the scene by the West Midlands and Welsh Ambulance Services.