Man dies at Stoke Canon level crossing and related incidents - 28 Mar 2019

[whole diary]

[Phantom]

I've read that the driver and guard who were directly involved in last weeks sad incident are running the Taunton Half Marathon this Sunday 7th April and have decided to raise money for the Samaritans.

Their donation page is available here if you're interested in donating to this worthy cause.

Fair play to them both, can't imagine what they must be going through emotionally at the moment

[bobm]

Indeed - hopefully it gives them something positive to focus on.

[JayMac]

The inquest into the death of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trainee guard Matt Ryder, aged 23, was opened yesterday.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/inquest-opens-death-gwr-guard-2735931

Matthew Charles Ryder died at a Stoke Canon level crossing, six miles North of Exeter

An inquest has been opened into the death of a 23-year-old railway employee who was killed on train tracks near Exeter.

Matthew Charles Ryder, from Exeter, died on Thursday, March 28 after he and a vehicle were struck by a train at a level crossing in Stoke Canon.

The train enthusiast is thought to have followed his father into a dream career as a guard at GWR, after being regular at train-spotting events in the county.

The collision which caused his death has been linked by British Transport Police (BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)) to a series of incidents on the line that same day.

The Devon County Coroner has confirmed that a preliminary date of November 28, 2019, has been set for an inquest at County Hall.

Scores of floral tributes have been placed at the level crossing on Green Lane since the collision.

Scattered among them are Pepsi and Dr Pepper drinks cans and toys. Heartfelt messages beside the flowers include messages from his family, referring to their 'little boy'.

[plymothian]

Eugh.

I hate press speculation.


However, Gary and Adam have raised nearly £4,000 for The Samaritans in their Taunton Half Marathon run,

[grahame]

Sometimes the press speculates, and sometimes it reports inaccurately (i.e. wrong).  Sometimes it's incomplete to the extent of giving the wrong impression.  Think about how many times you read a report of something close to your 'heart' and think 'that's not actually right'.

Reports will continue to be reported here, I'm sure; I have temporarily removed (for advise from the moderation team) a followup which analysed Devon Live.  A tradeoff between speech as free as possible, and adding 2 and 2, getting about 20, and being far from helpful to Matt's friends and family without really being in the public interest.

Thoughts remain very much with Matt's friends and family. The system will turn its wheels, no doubt frustratingly slowly, to look into what went wrong and in the meantime we should be patient; impatience is going to gain nothing.

[CyclingSid]

It also has to be remembered that local press has been severely cut because of web news. It is now relatively rare for them to be able to cover courts in person.