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In darkness, the 16-tonne steel wagon rolled down the West Coast Main Line, reaching speeds of up to 40 miles per hour (60 km/h). Running almost silently and without any warnings, it struck and killed four railway workers who were carrying out overnight work 3.25 miles (5 km) further down
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announced it had rejected an application by
Connolly for a Heavy Goods Vehicle Operators' Licence because of his manslaughter convictions. He had made the application to operate HGVs after being found driving a lorry without such a licence in May 2016.
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231:'s "log grab" in an attempt to drag sections of scrap rail from the wagon, the action caused the wooden blocks to dislodge. Slowly the wagon began to move downhill gathering momentum on the 1 in 75 gradient from
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had been placed in front of the wagon to stop it moving because the hydraulic brakes had been disconnected due to a fault; however, they had not been repaired or replaced. As a maintenance worker began using an
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275:. Connolly was also prosecuted for breaches of health and safety law. Both men were found guilty by majority verdicts; Connolly was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Kennett to two years.
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A memorial plaque was erected in
September 2006, on a large roughly hewn stone block adjacent to the scene of the incident. It is inscribed with the names of those who were killed.
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Following the incident, Mark
Connolly, the boss of the rail maintenance company, MAC Machinery Services, and crane operator Roy Kennett, were tried at
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the main line. Five men were also injured. The wagon continued to travel for almost 4 miles (6 km) until stopping.
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On 1 March 2007, an appeal launched by the two jailed men seeking to overturn their convictions failed. However, the
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This article is about the engineering accident. For the passenger train accident, see
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reduced
Connolly's prison sentence from nine to seven years. In January 2017, the
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indicates railway accidents and incidents resulting in at least 5 fatalities
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Close-up image of the plaque to the workers lost in the accident
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404:"Driver with manslaughter convictions refused HGV licence"
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The accident happened after a wagon laden with lengths of
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because it did not have properly working brakes. Wooden
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Railway accidents and incidents in the United
Kingdom
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ran away from a maintenance location on the line at
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206:, England in the early hours of 15 February 2004.
194:occurred when four railway workers working on the
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284:Office of the Traffic Commissioner for Wales
977:Railway accidents and incidents in Cumbria
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340:"Accident at Tebay on 15th February 2004"
528:Ufton Nervet rail crash, United Kingdom
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7:
997:2004 disasters in the United Kingdom
198:were killed by a runaway wagon near
474:Tebay rail accident, United Kingdom
390:"Tebay rail death appeal bid fails"
376:"Pair jailed for Tebay rail deaths"
42:Memorial to the Tebay rail accident
537:Cairns train derailment, Australia
309:"Tebay report and recommendations"
16:Fatal accident in Cumbria, England
14:
519:Pamukova train derailment, Turkey
362:"Death wagon brakes 'dismantled'"
183:List of UK rail accidents by year
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546:Peraliya train wreck, Sri Lanka
501:Ryongchon disaster, North Korea
446:Railway accidents and incidents
305:Rail Safety and Standards Board
1:
483:Nishapur train disaster, Iran
510:Karanjadi train crash, India
364:. BBC News. 17 January 2006.
406:. BBC News. 9 January 2017.
153:Brake failure as result of
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378:. BBC News. 17 March 2006.
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992:Railway accidents in 2004
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392:. BBC News. 1 March 2007.
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96:54.4196556°N 2.5987306°W
982:Runaway train disasters
562:2005 ►
558:◄ 2003
492:Madrid bombings, Spain
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101:54.4196556; -2.5987306
852:Liverpool Lime Street
342:. The Railway Archive
265:Newcastle Crown Court
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144:Industrial Negligence
196:West Coast Main Line
126:West Coast Main Line
192:Tebay rail accident
92: /
31:Tebay rail accident
21:Grayrigg rail crash
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84:54°25′10.76″N
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344:. Retrieved
319:. Retrieved
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269:manslaughter
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87:2°35′55.43″W
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919:Llangennech
691:7/7, London
653:Potters Bar
636:(Feb 2001)
233:Shap Summit
220:Scout Green
99: /
75:Coordinates
971:Categories
937:(Oct 2021)
929:(Mar 2021)
921:(Aug 2020)
913:(Aug 2020)
911:Stonehaven
894:(Nov 2018)
886:(Oct 2018)
878:(Mar 2018)
870:(Sep 2017)
862:(Aug 2017)
854:(Feb 2017)
843:(Nov 2016)
835:(Sep 2016)
827:(Apr 2016)
819:(Oct 2015)
817:Shalesmoor
811:(Mar 2015)
803:(Jul 2013)
795:(Jun 2012)
793:Loch Treig
787:(Nov 2010)
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771:(Jun 2010)
763:(Jan 2010)
761:Carrbridge
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720:(Dec 2005)
712:(Jul 2005)
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682:(Nov 2004)
674:(Feb 2004)
666:(Aug 2003)
655:(May 2002)
647:(Feb 2002)
634:Great Heck
628:(Nov 2000)
620:(Oct 2000)
291:References
271:caused by
216:steel rail
161:Statistics
953:1900–1999
935:Salisbury
259:Aftermath
229:excavator
140:Collision
876:Lewisham
825:Plymouth
726:Grayrigg
718:Elsenham
618:Hatfield
307:(2005).
243:Memorial
210:Incident
61:Location
841:Croydon
801:Norwich
785:Oxshott
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452: (
204:Cumbria
174:Injured
116:England
112:Country
69:Cumbria
48:Details
927:Kirkby
710:London
645:Nocton
542:Dec 26
533:Nov 15
524:Nov 6
515:Jul 22
506:Jun 17
497:Apr 22
488:Mar 11
479:Feb 18
470:Feb 15
346:1 June
321:13 May
224:chocks
166:Deaths
1012:Tebay
903:2020s
753:2010s
672:Tebay
610:2000s
312:(PDF)
200:Tebay
150:Cause
65:Tebay
454:2004
450:2004
348:2010
323:2023
190:The
122:Line
53:Date
448:in
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331:^
314:.
235:.
202:,
142:,
138:,
67:,
948:‡
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437:e
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350:.
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177:5
169:4
23:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
