Whitstable residents in dispute over future of dangerous railway crossing
By Rebecca Hughes • Feb 25th, 2011 4:03 pm • Category: Local, Multimedia
Tribute flowers at Glebe Way crossing. Photo: Rebecca Hughes
Every time a train whistle pierces the quiet air of Whitstable, residents close to one railway crossing feel an instant chill. If the train stops they know there has been another accident – another death.
The crossing is tucked away in the middle of an estate. When I ask for directions a resident’s eyes instantly widen.
“Too many people are asking where it is these days. You’re not going to commit suicide are you?” I smile to see if he’s joking, but his expression stays the same.
This week the tranquil town has been shocked by a third death on the Glebe Way crossing in only two months.
The latest victim, a well-known restaurant owner, Anthony Sait, 40, died at the scene after being struck by a train in broad daylight.
A resident who wished to remain anonymous said: “The last two were sadly suicide, I believe.”
However, a friend of Anthony, Chick Forest said he was a happy and healthy man with a loving family. When I arrive at the crossing Chick has been standing there for 40 minutes, simply staring into the distance trying to understand how it happened.
He said: “It doesn’t make sense to me really. When you’re standing here you have at least 400 yards to see the train, of course the visibility today is very good. I just don’t understand how it’s happening. I think the answer is just to close it.”
He added: “I can’t see anything wrong in walking another 100 yards to use the bridge. You can’t put a price on a life whether it is a bridge or whatever. Surely it’s not so vital to cross here when people know there have been so many deaths in the past.”
However, a local resident said: “There’s a bridge just up the road, people used to jump off that to commit suicide; closing this isn’t going to make a difference. I feel awful for the train drivers. This spate we’ve had has been bad.”
Another resident, Marie, said: “I think it’s a shame that three people have died without someone taking urgent action to find out what is going badly wrong there. It’s obviously unsafe because three people can’t have made the same mistake and I wonder how many more people are going to have to die in an incredibly short space of time before anything is done.”
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Rebecca Hughes is a reporter for the CfJ Newswire.
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The Whitstable Times has not named any of these deaths as suicides. I cant help but wonder, does anyone actually know if these deaths are suicides or accidents? If either one could be determined this would be useful, since it would be unfair to hail the crossing as unsafe if death was intentional. I personally use the crossing nearly every day, and have done for the last 7 years. Obviously I have never had a problem-visibility has not been an issue, even on foggy days.
I have a lot of sympathy for the train drivers, and I do believe that it is important to determine whether these deaths were intentional or not before placing the blame on the crossing.
Phoebe if you had read the papers the first lady was in her nightie…..i will leave it to you to work it out.As said before lets not forget the drivers and the poor people that have done a days work in London and are left on the train for ages until it gets moving again.Sad as it is there must be other ways people with disturbed minds can end whatever they want to end elsewhere.