Enfield train crash: Driver who tested positive for cocaine jailed

Some 75 passengers were on the Overground train when it crashed at Enfield Town station

The driver of a train which derailed after crashing through buffers at a north London station has been jailed for 16 weeks.

Some 75 passengers were on the Overground train when it crashed at Enfield Town station during rush hour on 12 October 2021.

Erkan Mehmet, 41, previously pleaded guilty to endangering the safety of persons being conveyed upon a railway.

An investigation after the crash found he had tested positive for cocaine.

The inquiry by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said the train had been travelling at 10mph (16km/h) when it was 69m (226ft) from the buffer stop.

No-one was seriously injured in the crash, but one passenger suffered a minor leg injury and another suffered shock. Neither required hospital treatment.

Mehmet, from Waltham Abbey in Essex, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court.

Arriva Rail London (ARL), which operated the service, previously said the firm had "a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol" and the driver had been "immediately suspended following the incident".

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]