From the
BBC» :
Level crossing barriers failed to close when trains ran through a Shropshire town at the weekend.
A photo was posted on Twitter*, with a number of people questioning the safety of drivers and pedestrians as the automatic barriers failed to activate in Wem on Sunday evening.
Network Rail said the problem had been resolved.
Witness Lindsey Bannister said it was "scary" and there was "nothing stopping people from driving across".
She said she was part of a long queue of traffic that had stopped at the crossing red lights at about 20:15 GMT on Sunday.
"All it would need is for one impatient person to have took a chance and it could have been a serious accident," she said.
"The next thing I saw was a big old fashioned train, the type with curtains in the windows and lamps on the tables, and it came through quite slowly, with the barriers still up.
"One of the guards on the train was hanging out of the window looking at the crossing as they went past."
'Fail safe'
Police confirmed they were called out on Sunday but that the barriers were already being repaired when they arrived.
Network Rail has yet to provide further details, but said on Twitter that train crews had been warned about the problem.
The firm has previously claimed a "fail safe" meant the barriers could only get stuck in the closed position.
The automatic system attracted criticism from some local people when it replaced a manned crossing in 2013.
At the time, some residents questioned the safety of the system, monitored remotely from Cardiff.
Two years ago Wem was named by Network Rail as one of the worst crossings in the country for people ignoring red lights.
*That photo from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bevartist/status/572322182845603840/photo/1
