Council apologises after drivers fined at station car park following fatal train crash

A council has apologised after drivers were fined for not moving their vehicles from a station car park after a fatal train crash.

Passengers were left stranded after two trains collided near Bedford on Friday, leaving a 60-year-old train driver dead and more than 100 people injured.

Some passengers were unable to return to their cars parked at Bedford railway station, but when they finally did they found penalty charge notices stuck to their windscreens.

A Bedford Borough Council spokesperson said: "We are aware of this matter and apologise for any incorrect tickets issued."

Two East Midlands Railway trains – the Corby to London St Pancras Luton Express, and the Nottingham to St Pancras service – collided at about 17:15 BST. The line remains closed this week.

One man posted a picture on social media of a penalty ticket on his windscreen in the station car park, adding to the council: "Really? Why are you issuing parking tickets to cars at Bedford train station after yesterday's major incident?

"Police were telling people NOT to go to the station! How were we supposed to collect our cars? Or extend parking?"

He said the penalised vehicles were in a car park adjacent to the station in Ashburnham Road and it was managed by the council, not a private company.

He added his paid parking expired at midnight after Friday's crash and a ticket was issued to him at 09:00 on Saturday.

The man had earlier been evacuated from a train on the Bedford line behind the crash site.

He also filmed his neighbours and his partner throwing bottles of water and snacks to stranded passengers from a road next to the railway, saying this was "humanity at its best".

The council added it had "already taken corrective action" and asked anyone who still needed a ticket rescinded to email.