A MOTORIST who drove across a level crossing as a train was approaching has been given a £255 bill and three penalty points on his licence.

Colette Dixon, prosecuting, said the red lights were showing and the barriers were coming down as Joshua James Ireland, 21, went over the York to Harrogate railway at Millfield Lane level crossing, Nether Poppleton, on June 17.

Ireland, of Byland Avenue, off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty by letter to going through a red light.

He told the court in his letter that he had completed part of the online level crossing awareness course offered by British Transport Police. But then the link went down and he couldn’t restore it.

“It is unfair to be punished for something out of my control at the time,” his letter to York Magistrates Court said.

Ireland was fined £146 and ordered to pay a £34 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.