The Arriva train, from Whitby to Bishop Auckland, overran the S25 signal in Shildon and carried on for 300 yards on July 11, sparking a Signal Passed At Danger report (
SPAD).
EWS said: ``In the past year,
SPADs by EWS drivers have fallen by 25pc.
And bosses at a signals centre in Slough, Berkshire "seriously under-rated the risks involved in
SPADs".
The HSE said although the number of
SPADs was high, many were caused by misjudgment of distance, braking conditions or happened during shunting.
In 2003, the company made a commitment to reduce the incidents of
spads by 20 per cent and can report that the reduction in incidents achieved was actually 25 per cent.
Of the 21
Spads in January this year nine were considered serious, compared with 10 in January last year.
Fourteen of the 37 incidents were classed as serious
SPADs, compared with 11 in April 2000.
I became a
SPAD at 25 and it shocks me to think how little I knew at the start.
The Newcastle incident was one of 13
SPADs considered serious ( the same number as in May 2003.
Of the May 2002
SPADs, 13 were regarded as serious compared with 23 in May 2001.
Many incidents of signals passed at danger (
Spads) are trivial because they involve minor misjudgement by drivers and over-runs of just a few yards - too short to bring them into conflict with other trains.
The others were omitting to instruct him about the risks of
SPADS (Signal Passed At Danger) and failing to arrange for him to attend a
SPAD awareness day.
