THE bill for repairing a train that ploughed into a Land Rover on a level crossing will be at least £200,000.

And it is believed that repairs to the track and crossing could add at at least another £130,000 to the bill.

Fifty-four passengers escaped unhurt when the train hit the vehicle on the Toddington Lane level crossing at Littlehampton in January.

The Land Rover had been abandoned on the track after a police chase. The driver leapt from the vehicle seconds before the impact.

The Cardiff to Brighton train service is run by operator Wales and West Trains.

Operations director Chris Gibb said today: "The actual bill for repairing the train will be £94,000. The train will be out of service for three months.

"It will also cost us £1,000 for every day the train is out of service. It will impact on our ability to run the train services.

"The total bill will be several hundreds of thousands of pounds. The aluminium bodywork of the train will have to be replaced.

"I think we were very lucky nobody was injured but the crews on the train dealt with it very well and passengers were very understanding."

He pledged that the wrecked train would not affect the Cardiff to Brighton service but other services would be delayed and possibly cancelled, costing "several hundreds of thousands."

Police tried to stop the Land Rover at Lyminster, near Littlehampton.

The vehicle suddenly sped away and police followed it to the crossing.

Brian Kirby, 27, of Clun Road, Wick, admitted abandoning the vehicle when he appeared before Arundel magistrates.

He will be sentenced at Chichester Crown Court on March 15.

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