Cheshunt car-on-track driver guilty of endangering life

A man who drove a car along a railway track before abandoning it has been found guilty of endangering life.

While fleeing police, Kieron Francis, 35, drove the Land Rover Discovery through a level crossing and on to tracks at Cheshunt railway station, in Hertfordshire, on 15 June 2021.

The car had been stolen from Braintree, Essex, four days before.

Francis was found not guilty of stealing the Land Rover but convicted of two charges of endangering life.

Police activity was spotted at Cheshunt station on 15 June 2021

Francis, previously form Henniker Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, but now of Fossway, Dagenham, east London, drove off when police officers tried to speak to him, St Albans Crown Court heard.

Two police officers were injured in the incident and several vehicles were damaged.

One officer was thrown from the car as it sped off.

Video footage showed the vehicle being driven along the track beside the platform at Cheshunt station.

An eyewitness said he was left "gobsmacked" by what he saw.

"It was like a scene from Grand Theft Auto, the video game," he said.

Francis pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, two offences of criminal damage, unlawfully driving on the railway tracks and abandoning the car.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced at a later date.