Teen who drove into path of train speaks on film

Published on Saturday 10 April 2010 20:29

A YOUNG driver who was jailed after killing two close friends when he crashed his car into a train at a level crossing has made a hard-hitting rail safety film to express his remorse over their deaths.

Richard Fleming, who is serving a five-year sentence, said he had been "buckled and broken" by the incident, which happened when he was 17, less than two months after he passed his driving test.

Now, in a level crossing safety DVD for Network Rail, he says: "To anyone messing about on the railways – you never know if fate might catch up with you."

Fleming, from Tain, is believed to have been trying to beat a train to a barrier-less crossing at Delny, near Invergordon in Easter Ross, while driving to college three years ago.

Paul Oliver, 17, died at the scene, while Allan Thain, 17, Fleming's other passenger, died in hospital five days later. They were all students at Inverness College.

Fleming is serving his sentence at Perth Prison after admitting causing the deaths. He also admitted speeding at 108mph on a single carriageway section of the A9, two days after passing his test.

Filmed in a cell at Polmont Young Offenders Institution, where he began his sentence, Fleming, speaking for the first time about the accident, said: "You don't want to lose any of your close friends through fooling about. Bad things can happen and they can change your life forever."

A caption at the end of the DVD states: "Richard's two friends died when he jumped the warning lights at a level crossing." The lights had been flashing for more than half a minute before the collision.

Fleming said he had known Oliver, who was his best friend, since he was three years old. He said: "I feel so, so much for my friends and their families. I just wish I could tell them that.

"I never got to their funerals because I was in hospital and I always feel that I never got to say bye. If I could speak to their parents, I would say to them how sorry I really, really am."

Fleming said he had no recollection of the crash, in which his Ford Fiesta was hit by an Inverness-Wick train travelling at 50mph.

Fleming, now 20, said being behind bars was like "someone has paused your life".

He said: "I just did not want to see anyone. I did not want to hear anyone. I was just buckled and broken. It will always be with me emotionally."

Network Rail said: "Motorist misuse of level crossings is one of the biggest risks to the safe running of the rail network. We are committed to influencing user behaviour through our Don't Run the Risk campaign and to educating young people in particular of the dangers of abusing our infrastructure.

"The DVD of Richard Fleming is designed to be a tool to get across to young people the life-changing risks motorists take when they gamble with the lights at a level crossing."

UK road safety campaigners Brake said the DVD was a stark warnings. Deputy chief executive Cathy Keeler said: "Let's hope that by Richard Fleming speaking about this, it will help prevent another tragedy."

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