Network Rail admits safety breaches over girls' deaths

Network Rail admits safety breaches over girls' deaths

Network Rail has admitted three health and safety breaches over the deaths of two girls at an Essex level crossing in 2005, a court has heard.

Olivia Bazlinton, 14, and Charlotte Thompson, 13, were hit by a train in 2005 as they crossed the tracks at Elsenham station footpath crossing in Essex. On Tuesday Network Rail (NR) indicated guilty pleas to three charges under the Health and Safety Act at Basildon Magistrates' Court and was committed for sentencing.

Olivia's father Chris Bazlinton said the move "proves that we have been lied to over the years". Charlotte's father Reg Thompson added: "The horror of that day is always with us and the huge hole in our lives left by Charlie will never be filled. In the aftermath of the accident, Network Rail claimed the girls had acted recklessly and that somehow their youthful exuberance led directly to their deaths, as if exuberance itself is a crime.

"I never believed that they were the architects of their own terrible end. It has taken six years to reveal the truth of what happened."

Network Rail said it would plead guilty to failing to carry out a sufficient risk assessment, failing to properly control protective measures at the level crossing and failing to prevent the girls from being exposed to the risks which led to their deaths. Network Rail will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on March 15.

Charlotte Thompson and Olivia Bazlinton were
killed at a level crossing in Essex in December 2005

Defence counsel Prashant Popat said: "Network Rail has already privately expressed regret and remorse for this tragedy. Today it accepts publicly that these faults caused the deaths of these two girls."

Olivia and Charlotte were killed on December 3 2005 as they crossed a footpath leading to Elsenham station platform. The crossing was fitted with warning lights and yodel alarms.

A London to Cambridge train passed over the crossing with the red lights and yodel sounding - a warning for foot passengers not to cross. After the train passed, the lights remained on and the alarms continued to sound as another train, travelling from Birmingham to Stansted Airport in Essex, was going to pass through the station.

The girls opened the unlocked wicket gates and walked on to the crossing. They were both struck by the Stansted train and killed.

In a statement released after the hearing, David Higgins, chief executive of Network Rail, said: "Last year I apologised in person to the families of Olivia and Charlotte. Today, Network Rail repeats that apology. In this tragic case, Network Rail accepts that it was responsible for failings, and therefore we have pleaded guilty."

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

UN Security Council discusses Syrian crisis

The U.N. Security Council on Friday was discussing an Arab League-backed plan to respond to the crisis in Syria, diplomats said as they headed into the closed-door consultations.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud said council members expected a presentation by the Moroccan ambassador, whose country joined the council this month.

Araud said a new Arab-European draft resolution reflecting the Arab League's demands on Syria would be introduced, and he hoped that it would be voted on next week. "We have waited too long," he said.

The U.N. says at least 5,400 have been killed in a months-long Syrian government crackdown on civilian protests.

European diplomats have been meeting this week with diplomats from Arab countries, including Morocco and Qatar, on a resolution that would strongly back an Arab League bid to end the crisis.

"There is now a chance that the Security Council will finally take a clear stand on Syria. That is long overdue," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday at the General Affairs Council in Brussels. The comments were provided by the German mission to journalists at the U.N.

On Tuesday, the Arab League secretary-general and Qatar's prime minister will brief the Security Council on the situation in Syria.

"We hope now that council members will seize this new window of opportunity and find common ground," German Ambassador Peter Wittig said.

But approval was far from guaranteed.

Permanent council members Russia and China used their veto powers last fall to block an earlier European resolution on Syria. On Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying Moscow will oppose a new draft U.N. resolution on Syria because it fails to take Kremlin's concerns into account.

South African Ambassador Baso Sangqu said it was important that supporters of the resolution assure other countries, including his, that the draft was not a plan for regime change.

Russia and some other countries believe NATO misused last year's Security Council's resolutions on Libya as a pretext for regime change in that nation.

Anti-Syrian regime protesters
wave Syrian revolution flags

Russia has been a strong ally of Syria since Soviet times, when the country was led by the president's father Hafez Assad, and has long supplied Syria with aircraft, missiles, tanks and other modern weapons.

The new Arab-European draft resolution on Syria, obtained by The Associated Press, expresses support of the Arab League's Jan. 22 decision "to facilitate a political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system."

The draft does not mention sanctions, but calls for the adoption of unspecified "further measures, in consultation with the League of Arab States," if Syria does not comply within 15 days.

The draft also condemns the "continued widespread and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities" and demands that the Syrian government immediately stop all human rights violations.

The Arab League earlier this month sent observers to Syria, but the mission was widely criticized for failing to stop the violence. Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia pulled out of the mission Tuesday, asking the Security Council to intervene because the Syrian government has not halted its crackdown.

The head of Arab League observers in Syria said in a statement that violence in the country has spiked over the past few days. Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib have all witnessed a "very high escalation" in violence since Tuesday.

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.