A local plumber who had a near miss with a passenger train after he failed to stop at a level crossing has been handed a 12-month driving ban.

Sixty-year-old Peter Kidney, of Manorbier, was due to stand trial at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Monday, after previously denying a dangerous driving charge brought against him by the British Transport Police relating to a road traffic offence that occurred in Jameston on September 2, but changed his plea to guilty when he appeared in court.

Prosecutor Ellie Morgan told the court that shortly after 6 pm on the day of the offence, train driver Martin James on board the 5.15 pm Carmarthen to Pembroke Dock service approached the Beavers Hill level crossing.

“It was a dry and light evening and the driver approached the open railway crossing and carried out the normal procedure and brought the train to a standstill and sounded the horn once, before taking power and carrying on his journey at 5 mph.”

Ms Morgan explained that the train driver saw from the corner of his right eye a dark navy coloured work van approaching from the side, heading towards the direction of Manorbier, and believed a crash was imminent because of the van’s speed.

“The driver conducted the emergency stop procedure, hitting the brakes, and estimated that the van passed about three feet in front of him.

“There is a ‘65 yards’ warning sign before the crossing, telling motorists to give way, but that’s not what the defendant did on this occasion,” she continued.

The driver reported the incident as a near miss and said: that it ‘shook him up’ and ‘frightened’ him, stating that he couldn’t believe what the van driver had done, who seemed to be ‘oblivious’ to their surroundings.

Magistrates viewed footage of the incident captured by a camera on board the train, showing the defendant’s van with ‘Peter Kidney Plumbing’ clearly visible along the side.

In a police interview, Mr. Kidney said that he had lived within the local area for many years and had driven across that particular level crossing many times before.

“He admitted that he had heard the train’s horn, but said that he believed he had plenty of time to cross, but after the footage had been shown to him, he now sees the matter very differently,” continued Ms Morgan.

“The defendant said that he was very sorry for his actions, and agreed what he’d done was stupid and that he had been very luck not to have been struck by the train,” she added.

Defence solicitor Mark Layton told the court that his client was of clean character and had nothing recorded against him previously.

He said that his guilty plea would result in the loss of his driving licence and that would impact on him and his business as a self-employed plumber.

“He thought that there was about six metres between him and the train, and there was just about enough to get through.

“From the outset he thought that his actions were careless rather than dangerous, but realises that this fell well below the standards of driving.

“It was a very grave lapse of judgement. He knows the road well and by good fortune there wasn’t any collision.

“This was a single incident, there is no pattern of bad driving,” added Mr. Layton.

Magistrates disqualified Mr. Kidney from driving for 12 months and ordered him to pay a total of £705 in court costs and charges.

He was also ordered to undertake 90 hours of unpaid work in the community.