It was the trailer of Jerry Geraeds (32) who was hit by a train in Prinsenbeek on Thursday morning. He heard ‘boom!’ and when he got outside he saw his trailer battered on the tracks. “Crack, that’s my bus with a trailer. I didn’t notice that someone had put my bus aside.”
Jerry’s roofing company is located right next to the railway on Spoorstraat in Prinsenbeek. On the corner at the railway crossing where a train collided with a trailer on Thursday morning.
His bus with a trailer full of roof tiles was parked that morning on Spoorstraat and was apparently in the way. “It was so hectic and busy outside. Everyone was honking. A friend of mine was walking outside at the time. Out of decency he wanted to park it across the street.”
“I didn’t know that he didn’t have a driver’s license. That just came up.”
But that turned out wrong. After the blow, Jerry immediately ran outside. “To see how he was doing. He was standing there shaken. He says the bus got stuck in gear and he couldn’t drive away.”
His friend turned out not to have a driver’s license. “That just came up, I didn’t know that.” Miraculously, he was not injured and the van was not damaged.
It’s not the first time things have gone wrong at this place. According to Jerry, a wider railway crossing at this location would not be an unnecessary luxury. “The bend is quite tight here. Last year a van with a trailer also got stuck in the bend and was hit.”
“There should at least be a new trailer.”
Jerry is quite taken aback by everything and has barely recovered from the shock. He doesn’t really know how to proceed. “In any case, we need a new trailer, otherwise I won’t be able to take any more roof tiles with me.”
Police say the driver has been fined for driving without a driver’s license. A blood test must show whether he was under the influence.
Jerry Geraeds on his stricken trailer (photo: Raymond Merkx). Jerry on the corner at the crossing where the accident happened (photo: Raymond Merkx).
READ ALSO: Train collides with trailer, track is littered with roof tiles
2023-09-14 12:26:01
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