09/03/2011 03:01 PM
Network Rail has been ordered to pay £62,500 for failing to repair broken security fencing alongside a stretch of railway track in Lincoln, it has been reported.
The broken fencing, which included some areas with no protection at all, ran along the track at Whisby Nature Park, the Lincolnshire Echo reports.
It was spotted by scout leader Keith Sampson when out walking with a group of young cub scouts in June 2009, Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard.
Despite Network Rail being made aware of the problem, Mr Sampson noticed it had still not been fixed when he visited the park again in November of the same year.
"My main concern about the fence was safety and I didn't want anybody being killed on the railway line," he told the newspaper.
The firm was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £47,500.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Blake was quoted by the newspaper as saying: "It was the summer holidays when young people are about and get bored and there is a greater risk of them wandering on to the track.
"I don't see this as a case of gross negligence of their staff. But the repairs could have happened very quickly and should have been done."
Network Rail has since put up new security fencing at a cost of £130,000, which the judge said was like "the Rolls-Royce of fencing".
Today, the firm said it would not pay its top bosses annual bonuses this year.
The broken fencing, which included some areas with no protection at all, ran along the track at Whisby Nature Park, the Lincolnshire Echo reports.
It was spotted by scout leader Keith Sampson when out walking with a group of young cub scouts in June 2009, Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard.
Despite Network Rail being made aware of the problem, Mr Sampson noticed it had still not been fixed when he visited the park again in November of the same year.
"My main concern about the fence was safety and I didn't want anybody being killed on the railway line," he told the newspaper.
The firm was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £47,500.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Blake was quoted by the newspaper as saying: "It was the summer holidays when young people are about and get bored and there is a greater risk of them wandering on to the track.
"I don't see this as a case of gross negligence of their staff. But the repairs could have happened very quickly and should have been done."
Network Rail has since put up new security fencing at a cost of £130,000, which the judge said was like "the Rolls-Royce of fencing".
Today, the firm said it would not pay its top bosses annual bonuses this year.
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