A CORONER has said signs indicating a railway line where a motorist was involved in a fatal collision with a high-speed train were “unsatisfactory”.
John Power, 54, died when his Vauxhall Astra crashed through a fence and ended up on the East Coast Main Line tracks at Copmanthorpe, near York, and was hit by a Virgin Plymouth to Edinburgh service.
The train was derailed but stayed upright and none of the 75 passengers or the crew was hurt.
Coroner Donald Coverdale recorded an open verdict and said it remained a “mystery” as to why Mr Power had ended up in Copmanthorpe and on the tracks in his vehicle.
However, Mr Coverdale went on to criticise the signage and warnings at the time of the accident.
The inquest was told a barely visible fence and a lack of signposts could have played a part in the fatal crash on September 25 2006.
The hearing, at York’s Guildhall, heard a new fence replaced an old white fence that had been clearly visible. The new one was described as being like “a black hole” and did not alert drivers to the presence of rail tracks just behind it.
Mr Coverdale recorded an open verdict.
