Network Rail has installed anti-trespass signs in Sleights to try and remind walkers not to trespass on the Thistle Grove railway bridge.
This comes after 23 incidents were caught on camera since May 2020.
The signs warn trespassers of the risks of walking on the railway and to remind them of the £1,000 fine if caught.
Signs have also been installed at both crossings to remind the public not to use them. Additionally, Network Rail has sent out letters to local residents, reminding them of the dangers of trespassing on the railway. Footage of the previous 23 incidents has been sent to the British Transport Police.
Dawn Sweeting, Community Safety Manager for Network Rail, said: “We hope the new signs in Sleights deter people from trespassing on the railway and stop them using the bridge and the private level crossings.
“People who are illegally using the railway bridge, intentionally or not, as part of their walking route are putting themselves in danger and the consequences could be fatal or life changing.
“The railway bridge is not a public footpath. Those who ignore the warning signs and use it are trespassing and risk a fine of £1,000.”
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Would it be a good idea to create a proper path alongside the railway? there is room by the looks of it.
It would lead to better health, less confrontation and law breaking, good PR too.
Based on experience, if they did then people would simply walk on the tracks or further along the line. How about, instead, people just start to accept that there are rules in life, and that these rules also apply to them?
OR A £5000 FINE THAT MIGHT THEM THINK!!
Clearly anyone walking across this bridge is nowhere near at risk from a train…….there is enough room to drive a bus across it alongside the track.
All that is required is to erect a small fence along the line of the yellow and white edge….
This does not need to be a high palisade type fence such as we now have all over the place…….and which would put Stalag Lift 9 to shame……
A simple single chain link fence…..at about a height 3′ would suffice……AS AN INDICATION OF A BOUNDARY……the true purpose of a fence….
People would adhere to staying on the footpath and would not need a tall fence to ‘protect’ them……a simple chain link fence would act well enough.
Network Rail could designate this as a footpath of ‘permissive use’…….by closing it for one day each year…..
They would secure good publicity from this and it would make good sense….
James Hennighan
Yorkshire, England