Brian Campbell, who runs the Maryburgh School of Motoring, is adamant that he and his pupil saw the Kyle-Dingwall train passing over the open level crossing at one of the town’s three crossings while there were no warning lights flashing.

Mr Campbell’s 17-year-old pupil Darren Ventre, from Muir of Ord, was driving under instruction when the incident happened on Monday, March 5, at 9.16am.

Network Rail this week strenuously denied that such a situation could occur and said if it did it would be a “massive safety issue”.

But Mr Campbell, who has been instructing for nearly 25 years, says he knows what he saw and is now calling on Network Rail bosses to meet the Ross-shire Driving Instructors’ Association to answer concerns.

Mr Campbell said: “We were coming in from Strathpeffer Road and as we were coming round the corner at Frank Nicol’s I looked and I saw the train crossing the road and there were no flashing warning lights on.

“There was a car stopped in front of us at the lights and I can’t say what stopped him, but I can say with absolute certainty that the lights were not on as we approached. I turned to my pupil and asked him ‘Are these railway lights on?’ and he replied ‘Definitely not’. My pupil handled the situation very well.

“The train was clearly still going across the road but the lights were not on. The weather was overcast and there was no sun, so we could see clearly.

“We drove immediately to the police station where I reported what I saw. I also managed to get the registration number of the car which had been stopped in front of us and I gave that to the police. He could hold the key.”

Mr Campbell added: “I’m not a great believer in trusting these lights and I think there are inherent problems with the whole system. But at the moment it's Network Rail’s word against everybody else.”

Mr Campbell is now inviting Network Rail bosses to a meeting of the Ross-shire Driving Instructors’ Association, which he chairs, on May 22, to answer concerns.

Local people have claimed for years that the lights are unreliable and that they don’t trust them. But Network Rail has always maintained that the system is foolproof and that it is checked regularly.

A spokeswoman for Network Rail said: “This is a serious allegation and as soon as the incident was reported we looked into it. Our ‘black box’ data recorder has confirmed that the level crossing worked perfectly and that the lights were flashing.

“To save cars sitting longer than they have to, the lights stop flashing the second the train is safely past. But it would never be the case that the lights would stop flashing while the train was still on the crossing. That would be a massive safety issue and it would show up on the black box.”

Dingwall Councillor Margaret Paterson, who has been campaigning for barriers for around 20 years, said: “I was horrified when Brian told me about this. You could get no more credible a witness than Brian Campbell who is a very experienced driving instructor and whose job it is to be observant on the roads. Brian uses these crossings countless times a day and I have absolutely no doubt that what he is saying is true.”

Another local driving instructor, Alf Maber, said he witnessed a similar incident in the past.

“I have seen a train at the West End crossing passing in front of me with the back carriage still on the crossing and the lights going off,” he said.

northstar@spp-group.com

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