A 26-year-old man has been cleared of putting railway passengers in peril at Burnley.

Burnley Crown Court heard how a car, alleged to have been pushed by Lee Ormonde, smashed through concrete fencing, down a steep cutting and landed within three feet of the line, where it could have been hit by a train on the York to Blackpool service. After police were alerted, a signalman in Preston stopped trains in the area for 20 minutes and the whole of the line was out of action for some time. The jury had been told how the vandalism cost rail bosses cash as passengers would have had to be paid compensation.

On the direction of Judge David Pirie, Ormonde, of Pritchard Street, Burnley, was found not guilty of endangering the safety of railway passengers, criminal damage, and two counts of obstructing an engine or carriage, on December 29 last year.

Jeremy Grout-Smith, prosecuting, had told the court the Ford Fiesta stopped within three feet of the line.

Trains have an "overhang" of four feet and had one hit the car, the safety of its passengers would be endangered.

On December 29, Ormonde had allegedly rowed with his girlfriend, Wendy Green, who owned the car, at a house in Burnley.

Ormonde left and Miss Green went to her mother's house on Baker Street and parked her car outside.

Around midday the defendant phoned her, threatened her so others could hear and about half an hour later turned up.

He got in the car, tried to start it, could not, and began to push it down the road.

Ormonde began to shove the Ford Fiesta down Piccadilly Road and turned into a steep street where he started to run with the vehicle as it gathered speed.

Mr Grout-Smith alleged at the end of the road Ormonde let go and the car smashed through concrete fencing, teetered on the edge of the embankment and then slid down it towards the railway line. Police were called, and trains stopped.

When he was interviewed, Ormonde - who used to live right next to the railway line - denied having anything to do with pushing the car at all. He said somebody else was responsible for pushing the vehicle down the hill.

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