Video: Tractor narrowly escapes collision with train on level crossing
This is the heart-stopping moment a tractor driver cheated death after narrowly avoiding a collision with a train on a level crossing.
Dramatic footage has emerged from the cab of a train travelling at speed and missing a Fendt tractor transporting a New Holland baler by the narrowest of margins.
#Leicester👍near devastating video. Why rural crossings must be used with care. Follow the rules; don’t risk it! @RutlandPolice @leicspolice pic.twitter.com/Qva5oUAmSX
— BTP Leicestershire (@BTPLeics) 27 July 2017
The incident happened near Huncote, Leicestershire.
The identity of the tractor driver has not been revealed.
See also: How farmers can reduce risk on train level crossings
British Transport Police posted the clip on its Leicestershire Twitter feed on Thursday (27 July) with a warning to farmers.
“#Leicester near devastating video. Why rural crossings must be used with care. Follow the rules; don’t risk it!”
A number of farming organisations, including the NFU, have retweeted the video with a warning to farmers to take care.
The NFU described the near miss as “unbelievable” and said it “showed the importance of farm safety at all times, especially during Farm Safety Week (24 28 July)”.
Similar incidents
There have been a number of high-profile collisions and near-misses involving tractors and trains in recent months.
A tractor driver narrowly avoided death or serious injury after his vehicle was nearly hit by a train in Castle Cary, Somerset, on 26 November last year.
Meanwhile, a train travelling at 84mph smashed into a tractor on a level crossing in Thetford, Norfolk, last April, following a signalling error.
The tractor driver was seriously hurt, but he survived the incident.