Cross Gates rail station: Alarming CCTV shows children drop bike onto train tracks

Authorities have claimed antisocial behaviour incidents at the facility in east Leeds over the past year have caused more than 300 minutes’ worth of delays to services.

This culminated with terrifying CCTV footage from June, which shows one youth park a bicycle on the edge of Cross Gates station's platform, before another child throws it onto the train track – an incident which caused delays for passengers.

Officers at Network Rail and the British Transport Police say the problem is particularly severe during school holidays, and have urged parents to keep an eye on their children and to teach them the dangers of railways from a young age.

Vicky Beadle, Network Rail’s Operations Risk Advisor said: “There have been people who have been misusing the railways. Some footage from our cameras showing two children throwing a bike onto the track.

“We do a lot of work in communities and with schools – we do a lot of work to highlight the dangers of messing around on a railway track.

She added that, in the past year alone, there have been 11 incidents on the tracks at Cross Gates station, of which six have involved children. This resulted in around five hours’ worth of delays to services using the line.

"It’s a cost to the industry,” Vicky said. “It’s a cost to our passengers as well.

"We always see a peak when it is the school holidays, because schoolchildren are out and about and not in schools. We are urging parents to know where there children are and keep them away from the railway tracks and keep them safe.

"Young people and railways – it seems to be like a magnet – it attracts them, so we have to highlight the dangers.

"The railways are changing – we have faster and quieter trains now. It’s not like it used to be.

"We have cameras at a lot of our stations now – mainly to keep people safe.”

Network Rail confirmed a train had hit the bike on the track, but thankfully did not derail or seriously damage the vehicle.

Dan Smith, a police officer working with the British Transport Police’s disruption team, said: “There are several instances here of antisocial behaviour and youths going onto the tracks.

"The consequences can be very severe. People need to be speaking to their kids about the dangers of the railway – not only just from a criminal basis, but it is a danger to yourself.

"There is a problem Leeds-wide and at a lot of stations around West Yorkshire as a whole, but it is particularly in Cross Gates where we are having problems at the moment.”

He added that, at smaller stations like Cross Gates, many services do not stop there, so will often be travelling through at high speed.

"It is so dangerous to the people involved. You can slip, trip, fall – and a lot of the services don’t stop here.

"They are very likely not to be as lucky next time.”