A former rail worker is being prosecuted by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) after one of his colleagues was struck and killed by a train in an incident near Newark North Gate station in Nottinghamshire on 22 January 2014.
John Wright, from Doncaster, had worked on the railway for about 30 years, and was in a team of three people inspecting points when the incident occurred. He was working as the ‘lookout’ while a colleague was the ‘tester’. The third team member, who is being prosecuted for allegedly breaching health and safety law, was the ‘controller of site safety’ (COSS) and was in overall charge of safety.
Mr Wright was struck at 11:34 GMT by a passenger train from London King’s Cross. He died in hospital nine days later.
The ORR said in a statement: ‘This was a devastating incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of John Wright.’
A preliminary hearing is due to be held at Nottingham Crown Court in March.
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