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Kent cyclist hospitalised after riding across live rail

Incident happened at Harrietsham near Maidstone on Sunday morning

A cyclist in Kent is being treated in hospital this evening after he apparently rode across a live rail on a Southeastern railway line.

The incident happened at around 1140 this morning at Harrietsham near Maidstone in Kent, reports the BBC.

The man was initially treated by firefighters before paramedics arrived.

Train services were suspended while the incident was being dealt with.

 

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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24 comments

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nbrus | 7 years ago
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At least he doesn't need to walk far to get his bike spotwelded back together .. and he's lucky he didn't have an e-bike ... there'd have been an explosion. No doubt the keystone cops were quickly on the scene ... apparently there was a conductor on the rail ... he should have been on the train. 

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gazman428 | 7 years ago
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he was only trying to recharge his ebike

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gmac101 | 7 years ago
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I grew up in the SE in the early 80's and in those days British Rail employees visited schools and treated us to a number of public information films about the dangers of the third rail.  The films didn't show anthying gruesome but the sense of doom they built up and the smoking remains of a toy  or similar that they ended with were enough to keep me away from the third rail.  That photo of the bike brought back memories

 

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gmac101 | 7 years ago
1 like

I grew up in the SE in the early 80's and in those days British Rail employees visited schools and treated us to a number of public information films about the dangers of the third rail.  The films didn't show anthying gruesome but the sense of doom they built up and the smoking remains of a toy  or similar that they ended with were enough to keep me away from the third rail.  That photo of the bike brought back memories

 

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embattle replied to gmac101 | 7 years ago
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gmac101 wrote:

I grew up in the SE in the early 80's and in those days British Rail employees visited schools and treated us to a number of public information films about the dangers of the third rail.  The films didn't show anthying gruesome but the sense of doom they built up and the smoking remains of a toy  or similar that they ended with were enough to keep me away from the third rail.  That photo of the bike brought back memories

 

 

Yeah I remember the visit well in primary school.

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Sniffer replied to embattle | 7 years ago
1 like
embattle wrote:
gmac101 wrote:

I grew up in the SE in the early 80's and in those days British Rail employees visited schools and treated us to a number of public information films about the dangers of the third rail.  The films didn't show anthying gruesome but the sense of doom they built up and the smoking remains of a toy  or similar that they ended with were enough to keep me away from the third rail.  That photo of the bike brought back memories

 

 

Yeah I remember the visit well in primary school.

Me too. 

I also remember some youngsters from my school continuing to take a shortcut over the rail lines even after the visits.  OK, the lines were not electrified on our route, but it was still bloody stupid then and bloody stupid now.  It just shows you can have as many signs and education exercises, but stupidity still comes out on top sometimes.

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Butty | 7 years ago
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I guess they took him away in an amperelance? 

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StraelGuy replied to Butty | 7 years ago
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Butty wrote:

I guess they took him away in an amperelance? 

 

That's appalling yes.

 

On a serious note, regardless of physical injuries the guy's going to have nightmares for life. The flash and the noise must've been terrifying.

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embattle | 7 years ago
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What an idiot, no we don't need more signs just need to stop people being stupid and if we can't we need to minimise the impact they have on the rest of us.

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mikecassie | 7 years ago
1 like

Not good for the cyclist, he might be lucky still to have fingers left.  I'm sure he will be scarred for life, mentally if not physically if lady luck really was on his side.  

If he was cycling where he shouldn't have been so I also hope others learn from him and his example.  

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brooksby | 7 years ago
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So there's a highly electrified rail just 'out there'? Are there fences? Are there warning signs? Did the cyclist climb a fence? Do we know why they were crossing there?

(edit: I've just read the Kent online link mungecrundle put there; might have been useful to put all that information in the road.cc article.  Those of us outside London and the south east forget that so many railways *are* electrified there)

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Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
4 likes

I enjoy a bit of off colour, Darwin award humour at the expense of stupidity, but I'd ask you to look again at the picture of the bike wreckage, especially the handlebars and give some thought to the types of injury this poor sod is waking up to this morning.

Edit

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/disruption-after-motorbike-fi...

 

Apparently not even stupidity, but ignorance.

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matchfit replied to Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
1 like
Mungecrundle wrote:

I enjoy a bit of off colour, Darwin award humour at the expense of stupidity, but I'd ask you to look again at the picture of the bike wreckage, especially the handlebars and give some thought to the types of injury this poor sod is waking up to this morning.

Edit

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/disruption-after-motorbike-fi...

 

Apparently not even stupidity, but ignorance.

 

Or the lack of front wheel which seems to have vaporised

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FluffyKittenofT... replied to Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
2 likes
Mungecrundle wrote:

I enjoy a bit of off colour, Darwin award humour at the expense of stupidity, but I'd ask you to look again at the picture of the bike wreckage, especially the handlebars and give some thought to the types of injury this poor sod is waking up to this morning.

Edit

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/disruption-after-motorbike-fi...

 

Apparently not even stupidity, but ignorance.

Key point perhaps being that he's an American tourist. Scarily easy to get into trouble in a foreign country if you mistakenly assume things work the same way they do at home. Also, getting badly injured while a long way from home has got to be a really rough experience.

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alansmurphy | 7 years ago
1 like

[Insert gag about train-ing for track racing here]

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Yorkshire wallet | 7 years ago
2 likes

I wonder what his peak wattage on the ride was?

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ktache | 7 years ago
0 likes

Ow!

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srchar | 7 years ago
4 likes

Does anyone know if he was in violation of Southeastern cycle policy? Seems to be dependent on where he started his ride:

South Eastern website wrote:

Cycles permitted if travelling from Gillingham (Kent), Otford & Tonbridge, away from London. Cycles also permitted if your journey starts in Kent or East Sussex and terminates anywhere before the stations named above, subject to space.

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ChetManley | 7 years ago
2 likes

Ohm my gosh! Guess he was training to power.

I'll get my coat.

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The _Kaner | 7 years ago
4 likes

Should have stuck to a Wattbike, he's gone through a total transformation, his power was a bit less than the current average bright spark.

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Grahamd | 7 years ago
5 likes

This could spark a safety debate.

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df280 | 7 years ago
5 likes

This is a very shocking story

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kevvjj | 7 years ago
5 likes

Must have thought it was the current thing to do...

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Flying Scot | 7 years ago
3 likes

Wonder what voltage carbon rims are good for

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