24th December 1927

A motorist is killed on a Jersey level crossing

The bell was sounding, warning oncoming traffic that the barrier was being lowered at the Grève d’Azette station level crossing, but Francis Lecocq thought he could probably squeeze through in time. He was wrong. The barrier came down on the roof of his car and held it firmly in place.

The train was already too close for the driver to stop, and although Lecocq and both of his daughters managed to get out of the car before the inevitable collision, The Times of 28 December 1927 reports that, on that fateful Christmas Eve, “the train crashed into the car, cutting it completely in half, and carrying it some 50 yards up the line”.

It also killed Lecocq.