A driver who was sending Whatsapp messages moments before he crashed his speeding Merseyrail train has avoided jail.
Phillip Hollis sent a friend a message moments before realising his Kirkby-bound service was travelling at almost three times the speed limit of the entrance to the station on March 13 last year.
He hit the emergency brake shortly before reaching the platform but the train crashed through barriers at the station with 12 passengers and a guard on board.
READ MORE: Merseyrail passenger admits endangering passenger safety
The 59-year-old was flanked by a large group of family and rail workers as he arrived at court this morning for sentencing.
David Polglase, prosecuting, said Hollis had worked as a driver for Merseyrail since 1985 and was believed to have driven the route to Kirkby station thousands of times.
He was regarded as a consistent and reliable driver, yet on the day of the accident he approached Kirkby at 42mph when the speed limit was 15mph.
The train careered through barriers at the station causing extensive damage and major disruption to train services for weeks.
No one on the train was injured.
Mr Polglase said Hollis later told ambulance workers and police that he had been trying to retrieve a bag and a bottle of Lucozade from near his seat just prior to the crash.
Yet as well as this, officers later found he sent a message to a friend just before the crash.
Hollis received a Whatsapp message a few minutes before the train was due to get to Kirkby that read “RIP Murray”, a reference to Murray Walker, the motorsport commentator who died earlier that day.
Mr Polglase said Hollis then replied “A great commentator” at 6.51pm, a minute before the train was due to arrive at the platform.
Shortly afterwards, he applied the emergency brake 18 metres away from the platform but the train still hit the barriers at more than 30mph.
The damage to the station was estimated to be around £450,000.
In his initial comments about the accident, Hollis said he was in a state of confusion about how it happened but believed he was reaching for the bag in his cab.
Yet in an interview with police on May 5 he read out a prepared statement in which he accepted his phone should have been off while he was driving.
He was charged with endangering the safety of people travelling on by a railway and admitted it in Liverpool Magistrates’ Court last month.
Mr Polglase said: “The crown say that there must be high culpability here because the defendant, for whatever reason, the bag or the Whatsapp message or both, was distracted from the task at hand when driving the train.
“He was trained, he was familiar with the route and he knew how one was supposed to approach Kirkby, both due to his approach and his training.”
Patrick Williamson, defending, said the confusion expressed by Hollis about how the incident happened was genuine and continued to this day.
He said: “The defendant is in sincere difficulty, given the significant impact on him, as to why he came to be travelling at that speed on the way to Kirkby station.”
Mr Williamson said Hollis had seen a psychologist since the accident and had been diagnosed with PTSD.
Asking the judge to suspend any jail term, Mr Williamson also pointed to Hollis’ position as a carer for his partner and his lack of any previous convictions.
He confirmed Hollis lost his job after the crash.
Judge David Potter QC said Hollis was lucky his “reckless actions” didn’t have more serious consequences.
He said: “It is through sheer luck rather than judgement on your part that serious injury was not caused.”
The judge said there was evidence to indicate Hollis’ actions that day were out of character and pointed to a number of personal references from former colleagues in which they describe him as a role model.
Hollis, of Spellow Lane, was handed a 12 month jail term, suspended for two years. He must also follow a curfew between 7pm and 7am for three months and complete 180 hours of unpaid work.
