KILLED ON CROSSING

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1935, Page 4

KILLED ON CROSSING

AUCKLAND GROCER’S END TWO CHILDREN SEVERELY HURT. CAR WRECKED BY LOCOMQTTVE. NOTCWOU® SPOT AT w w By Telegraph—Press Association., Auckland, Last Night. A man was killed and his young daughter and young son were , severely injured when the ear in which they were travelling was struck by an inward bound suburban train at the Portage Road level crossing. New Lynn, to-night. The names of the victims are:— Killed: Leonard Stott, aged 41, grocer, of Gold Road, New Lynn. Injured: Lorna May Stott, aged 13, fracture of, the thigh and internal injuries; condition serious; Raymond Thomas Stott, aged 13, fracture of a leg and injury to the back; condition serious.

With the two children as passengers Mr. Stott was driving home from his shop at Pongonby. The car was proceeding up Portage Road when it was struck by the 6-5 p.m, train from Swanson for Auckland. The driver of the locomotive was Mr. J. Lee and the guard Mr. D. S. White. As it was negotiating the crossing the car, an old touring model, was struck near the right-hand back wheel. It somersaulted, striking the railing of the cattle-stop and carrying away a portion of the wire fence. It finally came to rest the right way up but facing in the opposite direction at the side of the railway line 53 feet from the point of impact. AJI three occupants were thrown out of the car. Mr. ’Stott was killed almost instantly and the two children were taken to the Auckland hospital.

“Pn reaching the crossing the car appeared to stop and then make a lastminute attempt to escape the oncoming train,” said Mr. J. R. McLean, who witnessed the accident from outside his house, which is alongside the railway line.

The car was extensively damaged. Both rear wheels were smashed, the hood was ripped off and the body work suffered' severely. Portage Road crossing, at which a boy cyclist was killed last August, is regarded as a most dangerous OR®. It is at the top of a slight rise, and the greater part of the line is obscured, except at close quarters. There are “compulsory stop” notices at each side of the line, but no warning bell or “wigwag” device. A “railway crossing” signal stands at the western side of the crossing. Continued efforts have been made by the New Lynn Borough Council to have the dangerous nature of the crossing minimised, but so far nothing has been done.