Lucky escape for joyriders who crashed on rail line

A 15-year-old joyrider and his three friends escaped unhurt when the car they were in crashed onto a railway line and was hit by a train.

The driver careered off the road and landed on the tracks at Leigh-on-Sea, near Southend.

The boy and his three passengers managed to scramble free from the stricken Ford Escort. Minutes later, a c2c train ploughed into it, despite efforts by a police officer called to the scene who tried to flag it down.

British Transport Police said it was lucky the train, which was the night's last service from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness, was travelling slowly when it hit the car.

Inspector Ian Butterfield, from the British Transport Police, said: "The initial assessment is that the driver may have taken the corner too fast and his car has come down onto the track.

"It could have been a very nasty situation. If the train had been coming through at speed it could have derailed and the people on the train and the driver could have been badly hurt. It was lucky it was a slow-moving train."

A spokesman for Essex police added: "Fortunately the driver of the car and the occupants had got out prior to the train striking the car and were unhurt.

"Neither the train driver nor the passengerson the train suffered any injuries although the driver was shaken.

"The car suffered extensive damage and the train received damage to the front side." Ambulance crews and firefighters called to the track discovered the car had been shunted 100 yards down the line by the impact of the crash.

The line was closed for almost four hours after the crash, which happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, while emergency workers recovered the mangled car wreckage and assessed the damage to the train.

The teenage driver, from Leigh-on-Sea, was given a breath test at the scene and was being questioned by police.

Police seized the wrecked car which is being examined to discover if a mechanical fault caused the crash.