Trespassers warned to keep off rail track
From left, Brian Pound and Dave Peacey of Swindon and Cricklade railway warn about crossing the tracks ^STAY off the tracks before a serious accident happens^. That is the warning from volunteers at Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
They say they are constantly seeing adults and children crossing the railway tracks as a short cut into fields near Mouldon Hill.
Vice-chairman Dave Peacey said the problems were mainly happening on the southern side of the track.
^It is just sheer stupidity,^ he said.^People come out from behind the hedges, which means the drivers have to slam the brakes on, but what people don^t seem to realise is that if the trains are travelling at 10 miles an hour it can take 100 metres to stop ^ there^s no way they can stop any sooner.
^It^s an endless problem and we have got it all the time but it is probably only a handful of people who are doing it.
^We need to catch them and, if we do, we will be prosecuting because it is a criminal offence.^
In a bid to end the problem, the volunteers have put up wire fencing and warning signs but say trespassers have cut the fencing down and smashed the signs in a bid to cut a few minutes off their journey.
Chairman Brian Pound said: ^We see people walking dogs along the lines, lifting bikes over the fence and cycling along, holding their children^s hands and crossing the lines. ^We haven^t prosecuted anyone yet, but if we can catch them we will.
^We need to take a stand, we^d rather prosecute someone than somebody get killed.^
Dave said: ^We have to think of our crews. If something did happen, it would prey on their minds forever, but it wouldn^t be their fault.
^We travel that section of track all the time.
^At weekends we are up and down every hour, but we also go down there a lot for maintenance reasons so it is in use 24 hours a day.
^I know when people moved into the homes that back on to the railway, it was in their deeds that a railway ran along the back of their gardens so if they didn^t like us being there, they shouldn^t have bought the houses.