Drugged-up Halifax ambulance rail crash driver 'put lives at risk and could have caused untold carnage'

The investigating traffic officer into a rail crossing crash involving a Halifax man driving a decommissioned ambulance said he 'put numerous lives at risk and could have caused untold carnage.'.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Nov 2018, 10:29 BST
Updated 21st Nov 2018, 11:30 BST

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Shane Hughes from Halifax has been jailed after crashing a decommissioned ambulance on a railway crossingShane Hughes from Halifax has been jailed after crashing a decommissioned ambulance on a railway crossing
Shane Hughes from Halifax has been jailed after crashing a decommissioned ambulance on a railway crossing

A 70mph passenger train came within inches of hitting the vehicle after it crashed through a level crossing barrier at Kildwick in North Yorkshire when its drugged-up driver Shane Hughes jumped out.

READ IN FULL: Drugged-up Halifax 'ambulance' driver centimetres from catastrophe after railway line crashFootage from inside the train driver's cab was shown to a judge at Bradford Crown Court as he sentenced for what he described as the worst case of dangerous driving he had seen in his career at the Bar and on the bench.

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Traffic Constable Gemma Brett, of the Major Collision Investigation Unit who led the case for North Yorkshire Police, said: “On the day of these offences, Shane Hughes put numerous lives at risk and could have caused untold carnage.“His actions were totally irresponsible, illegal and focused entirely on himself with no thought whatsoever for the safety of anyone else.“The sentence handed to him shows that the courts, as well as the police, are determined to keep North Yorkshire’s communities safe by getting offenders like Hughes off our roads.”

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Hughes committed the offences just two days after he was given a community order for another offence of driving while banned.

At an earlier court hearing he admitted charges of obstructing the railway, dangerous driving, driving while banned and theft and today he was jailed for a total of 22 months.

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