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Who Would Lie Down On The Lewes To Seaford Railway Line, Like This?

Highly dangerous and illegal behaviour at Tide Mills (Photo: © Network Rail)

Safety cameras on the foot-crossing at Tide Mills have caught a woman lying on live railway tracks, posing for photographs.

According to Network Rail, this incident on the coast is the latest in a series of dangerous incidents on the railway, which could have ended with fatal or life-changing consequences.

The camera time-stamp declares the incident took place at 11.22am on Monday, January 18.

Tracy Partridge, East Sussex level crossing manager at Network Rail, said:

“We are concerned about repeated dangerous behaviour at Tide Mills level crossing which follows the near misses which took place last year.

“We cannot stress enough the danger that people are placing themselves in when they don’t use a crossing safely.

"A split-second decision can have life-changing consequences, not only for those involved, but also for their family and friends, train drivers and railway workers."

The railtrack owner said this is the 17th incident at this crossing in the last nine months (since 1 April 2020) with 15 recorded near misses.

But during the whole of 2019 there were only four recorded incidents with three recorded near misses.

The dangerous behaviours at Tide Mills include level crossing users filming the emergency stop of an oncoming train.

In another incident, bike users narrowly missed a train while large groups of pedestrians have also experienced close calls by trying to beat approaching trains.

Cameras have also captured a funeral procession using the crossing.

Jonathan Pine, British Transport Police Inspector, said:

“This is unthinkably stupid behaviour by two women clearly oblivious to the dangers of level crossings.

"Trains pass through this line at speeds of up to 70mph, so they could quite easily have been moments away from a catastrophic incident.

"We’ve seen first-hand the consequences of this sort of recklessness and no photo opportunity is worth risking your life for.”

Local people and visitors will soon enjoy safer access across the railway at Tide Mills in the South Downs National Park after Network Rail’s proposals for a footbridge were granted.

The footbridge should provide safer access to Seaford beach and the surrounding landscape.

Once the new footbridge is in place, the footpath crossing will permanently close.

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