Derailment averted

Press, 31 May 1982, Page 4

Derailment averted

PA New Plymouth A . car chase in south Taranaki almost led to a derailment early on Friday, a goods train having to be warned by torchlight to stop. A utility, reported stolen from Kakaramea. south of Hawera, became stranded on the railway lines after crashing through a farm fence and a railway crossing barrier. The train pulled up 100 metres from the crossing. The chase began when the driver of the car ignored a signal to stop from Constable Jack Kennedy, in Hawera. The driver later crashed through a road block set up by the Patea police. ‘Hawera and Patea patrol cars took tip the chase at

speeds up to 120 km h — before the utility crashed on to the tracks at about 3 a.m. Five minutes later, as the train approached, Constable Kennedy had to run along the track, waving a torch, and a police car with flashing lights was stationed near the line. The badly dammaged utility was towed clear of the line. Two youths, both aged 18, from Porirua and Patea, will appear in the District Court at Hawera tomorrow as a result of the incident, a police spokesman said. A sawn-otf shotgun had been found in the utility and an . unlawful possession charge would be laid, the spokesman said.