Wirral man who threw bike onto railway is jailed - 17th Apr 2009 11:03am
Wirral man who threw bike onto railway is jailed
A DRUNK who threw his mountain bike onto a Wirral railway line causing disruption and potential derailment has been jailed for eight months.
Judge David Swift told Anthony Hylands: "It was a serious matter and the courts have to make it perfectly clear that these sort of offences result in serious consequences not just because of the risks to others but the expense and inconvenience it causes.
"A custodial sentence is the inevitable consequence."
The incident happened at 5pm at Birkenhead North station and the judge pointed out that it caused "enormous inconvenience" to the travelling public.
"It is a busy station with trains through every few minutes at that time of day," he said.
Hylands, 25, of Park View Close, Birkenhead, pleaded guilty to obstructing a railway engine.
Michael Stephenson, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that Hylands, who was clearly drunk, was at the station on October 28.
He was captured on CCTV pushing his bike off the platform and it straddled the third electrified line and another rail caused the electricity to short out.
The line could not be used for 43 minutes and the operations manager later said that if the bike had been struck by the approaching train it could have led to derailment.
The incident resulted in a bill of £5,249, said Mr Stephenson.
When Hylands was interviewed the next day he said he had been drunk could not explain his action and was apologetic.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Hylands has previous convictions including criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly.
Gareth Bellis, defending, said that Hylands is now receiving help for his drink problem, which lay behind his offending.
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