Level Crossing

Question:

My son is accused of crossing a level crossing when the lights were going. We have responded to the original NIP to give his details and now he has received his NIP we don’t know whether to send it back with or without an explanation.

He said he was traveling with the flow of the traffic. The lights had just come on and he thought it would be unsafe to stop suddenly as there was a car behind him.

He believed that had he stopped he would have been shunted onto the track. He believes the car behind also went through the light so wasn’t slowing down.

Thank you

Dominic Says:

There is no point in sending in an explanation at this stage. The police are very formulaic and I anticipate that they will issue a summons to court,. They take these matters very seriously because of the potential consequences of a train crash.

If they offer him a fixed penalty he should take that offer seriously.

If it does go to court he will be at risk of 3 points or a discretionary ban. Again the court take these matters seriously.

He may have a special reasons argument if he was being tailgated and it wasn’t safe to stop. These matters are caught on camera and it should be possible to prove that the driver behind him was too close.

Come back to me if you would like further help with this matter. Is your son a new driver?