A man has died after escaping from a custody van and being hit by a train on the A1(M) motorway. The 40-year-old broke free from the vehicle as it stopped on the motorway this morning, according to police.
Incident Details
British Transport Police (BTP) officers rushed to the scene to search the surrounding area. They discovered the man's body on train tracks near Welwyn North railway station at 9:40 am, just south of Stevenage. Formal identification has not yet taken place, but the man's family has been informed, Hertfordshire Police confirmed in a joint statement with the BTP.
The van had been driving from the custody suite at Stevenage police station when a fight broke out at around 9 am. The forces said two members of transport contractor staff were injured during an altercation in the van and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
Investigation Underway
In light of the man's death following his brief escape, Hertfordshire Police has referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. A file has also been prepared for the coroner. Police are still working to establish the full circumstances, and officers will remain in the area while initial investigations continue, a spokesperson said.
David Elsdon, 82, was overwhelmed by the number of police swarming his usually quiet village of Digswell nearby. It was all a bit of a shock, he told the BBC. We were just out the front ready to leave for the town and inundated with a number of police cars coming along. I think we passed 10 in total before we got out onto the main road.
Travel Disruption
Thameslink, LNER, and Great Northern trains from London through Hertfordshire, Peterborough, and Cambridgeshire faced delays earlier, but the line has since reopened. National Rail warned that some trains on the line could still be cancelled. Thameslink confirmed that one of its trains had hit the man and advised those travelling by train to check their routes beforehand due to delays.
