Train driver caught reading newspaper at 60mph

With his paper spread across the dashboard of a speeding commuter train, a lone driver appears to take his eyes off the controls. The image was taken as he raced out of a tunnel at around 60mph – allegedly at the expense of passenger safety.



Instead of focussing on driving the train and the track signals ahead, he looked like he was catching up on the day’s news. Now shocked bosses have suspended the First Great Western driver while they carry out an investigation.

Jim Hales, 64, who took the photo, said: “I was completely stunned. It looks so dangerous. He was apparently responsible for driving a train full of people. That takes every ounce of someone’s concentration or else it could be a total disaster.” The high-speed train, which had set off from Plymouth at 5.53am on July 4, is usually packed with hundreds of people by the time it reaches Paddington, London.



First Great Western said: “First hand this photograph is frankly astonishing and appears to show behaviour that falls way short of the professional standards we expect from our train drivers. He has not driven a train since we were alerted and remains suspended.”