The Tebay rail accident occurred when four railway workers working on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

were killed by a runaway wagon near

Tebay Tebay is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic borders of Westmorland. It lies in the upper Lune Valley, at the head of the Lune Gorge. The parish had a population of 728 in the 2001 census, increasing to 776 at th ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England in the early hours of 15 February 2004.

Incident

The accident happened after a wagon laden with lengths of steel rail ran away from a maintenance location on the line at

Scout Green Scout Green is a hamlet and small area of farm land near the village of Tebay in Cumbria, England. History It is best known among railway enthusiasts as a location for trainspotting and photography on the West Coast Main Line between Penrith ...

because it did not have properly working brakes. Wooden chocks had been placed in front of the wagon to stop it moving because the hydraulic brakes had been disconnected due to a fault; however, they had not been repaired or replaced. As a maintenance worker began using an

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fro ...

's "log grab" in an attempt to drag sections of scrap rail from the wagon, the action caused the wooden blocks to dislodge. Slowly the wagon began to move downhill gathering momentum on the 1 in 75 gradient from

Shap Summit Shap is a linear village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England, in the historic county of Westmorland. The parish had a population of 1,221 in 2001, increasing slightly to 1,264 at the 2011 ...

. In darkness, the 16-tonne steel wagon rolled down the West Coast Main Line, reaching speeds of up to . Running almost silently and without any warnings, it struck and killed four railway workers who were carrying out overnight work further down the main line. Five men were also injured. The wagon continued to travel for almost until stopping.

Memorial

A memorial plaque was erected in September 2006, on a large roughly hewn stone block adjacent to the scene of the incident. It is inscribed with the names of those who were killed.

Aftermath

Following the incident, Mark Connolly, the boss of the rail maintenance company, MAC Machinery Services, and crane operator Roy Kennett, were tried at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

on charges of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

caused by

gross negligence Gross negligence is the "lack of slight diligence or care" or "a conscious, voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequences to another party." In some jurisdictions a person injured as a result of gross negl ...

. Connolly was also prosecuted for breaches of health and safety law. Both men were found guilty by majority verdicts; Connolly was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Kennett to two years. On 1 March 2007, an appeal launched by the two jailed men seeking to overturn their convictions failed. However, the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

reduced Connolly's prison sentence from nine to seven years. In January 2017, the Office of the Traffic Commissioner for Wales announced it had rejected an application by Connolly for a Heavy Goods Vehicle Operators' Licence because of his manslaughter convictions. He had made the application to operate HGVs after being found driving a lorry without such a licence in May 2016.

References

{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 2000–present, state=collapsed Railway accidents and incidents in Cumbria Runaway train disasters 2004 in England Railway accidents in 2004 2004 disasters in the United Kingdom History of Cumbria 2000s in Cumbria Tebay