Police target rail crossing 'jumpers'
TRANSPORT police and rail officials are cracking down on drivers who put their lives at risk by jumping level crossing lights at Berwick.
Teams of uniformed and plain clothes officers from British Transport Police have been staking out the Station Road crossing.
Commuters and local residents say they have been waiting in lay-bys north of the crossing, in a field adjacent and also in the south side car park outside.
Pauline Kennard whose home fronts onto the car park confirmed the officers were there last week.
She said: 'There were two of them and they had walkie-talkies. They were there some time and clearly waiting for someone to jump the lights and then would presumably take registration numbers.
'There have been lots of instances when people decide to drive on in spite of the fact the red lights are flashing and the barriers are about to come down.'
A British Transport Police spokesman confirmed officers visited the crossing often to make sure safety standards were maintained.
The crossing hit the headlines in September 2003 when a frustrated commuter left his car on the crossing after finding out the train he usually caught would not be stopping at Berwick.
The commuter, property manager Simon Taylor from Windmill Road, Polegate, was sentenced to 80 hours community punishment and fined more than 1,000.
But drivers and commuters feel equally frustrated when traffic queues build up at the crossing where barriers are lowered as trains leave either Polegate or Glynde to the east or west.
Pauline Kennard said: 'I think they jump the lights because otherwise they have a long wait. Sometimes the barriers stay down even longer when trains are coming from both directions.'
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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