Remember him?? the fella who perched his land
rover and trailer (carrying a renault) on the
east coast main line, then the newcastle to
london express came along and crashed into it
before hitting a freight liner killing 10 and
injuring dozens more...
now, i dont like this fella at all, he says
he'd like to clear his name, i think he's
wrong for that, accident or neglect he was
driving the land rover, the buck stops with
him.... he did it..
but, i'm not convinced about the falling
asleep while driving version..
he'd have crossed the rumble strips on the
outer marker of the hard shoulder, if he was
asleep this should have woke him up,
especially in a tinny old land rat, but so
the story goes he was too groggy to react
properly....
yet he was alert enough to keep a top heavy
land rover and trailer upright while doing
40-50 mph down a grass embankment through
shrubs and small trees at an angle, even the
renault was still perched on the trailer...
having had quite a lot of experience with
land rovers and towing thats no mean feat and
not what i'd expect for someone who took so
long to wake up..
though it does puzzle me why he didn't put it
in lower cog and bulldoze his way back off
the line...
yes, he'd been chatting to her on line and on
the phone til' the small hours, about 5 hours
in total, so when he set off its thought he'd
had about 2-3 hours sleep, this was why the
prosecution argued that he'd fallen asleep..
thats fair enough up to that point, but as he
hit the rumble strips he'd have veered right
not left, so to go left must have meant that
he over-steered right, then over steered left
to compensate, yet with all that happening
and then the drop down the embankment the
land rover, trailer and car all remained
intact until the train walloped it.. that
seems a tall order to me..
nah because he could have just drove off the
tracks in the time he got out of the veichle
ran up the grass verge fumbled for his phone
and rang the emergency services
i cant believe he didn't try to back up, so i
reckon he tried but the thing was stuck..
land rovers have three setting for their gear
box, 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel
drive low ratio, in low ratio you'd bulldoze
a house down..
but, most land rovers are fitted with free
wheeling front hubs, these in effect
disconnect the front wheels from the half
shafts for fuel and tyre economy, you have to
manually turn them on and off at the wheel,
imagine it as two big cogs that lock into
place and vise versa..
he probably had these set for two wheel drive
since he wasn't planning on going off road,
strangely with land rovers if your towing its
always best in two wheel drive..
if the left one wasn't fully disengaged and
the vibration of driving engaged it he'd have
had a thud from the front left hand wheel a
bit like running over a brick, gary hart did
say several times he thought he'd run over
something..
he'd have took his foot off the accelerator
by instinct and because the right front wheel
is turning freely (free wheeling hub
disengaged) and the left now engaged and
connected with the half shaft this would have
caused instant drag to the left, it may even
have locked to front left wheel for a second
or two..
and, because the hubs were not faulty just
set wrong the accident investigators may not
have detected it because these would have
been in a thousand pieces since the train
smashed the entire front off the landrover..
that would depend on the type of hubs tinz,
they're pretty old fashioned and haven't
changed a whole lot since they where first
made in 1948..
if ^^ thats what happened, the hubs could
have been worn, he may have accidentally set
them wrong or a spring could have rusted
making them not lock into place properly...
if there was a fault with the front hubs it
wouldn't be noticed on his mot for two
reasons, they'd have been set properly, if
you set off with one switched on and one
switched off you'd know somethings up
straight away..
second, most mechanics wouldn't have a clue
with free wheeling front hubs, its only
something you'd see on large four by fours..
oh and no, if he'd set them for 2 wheel drive
it would only be a two wheel drive even if he
set the gear box to 4 and if my theory is
right he may well have smashed his transfer
box (another bit of gear box), half shaft or
diff when the left hand hub engaged at higher
speeds.....
well yeah i'd buy that to a point urban, but
he was clear thinking enough to find his
phone (he mentioned in a statement he
couldn't at first find his phone) and call
the emergency services..
i'm pretty sure if it had been me i'd have
tried to back off the track, but i reckon he
would have too..
and your
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