Network Rail fined £1m

Chris Bazlinton, gave his reaction after Network Rail was fined £1m for breaching health and safety laws at a level crossing where his daughter Olivia was killed in 2005.

He said:

Olivia's Bazlinton's mother, Tina Hughes, who clutched an old teddy bear throughout the proceedings, had tears in her eyes when she said: "I didn't really want to come to court.

"I wanted to go to parents evening and hear the teachers say that Olivia talked too much in class.....and see her bring a bag of washing home from uni, and watch her walk down the aisle looking like an angel and look into the eyes of her newborn babies

Hilary Thompson, Charlotte's mother, said: "They took our daughters from us and they broke our hearts."

Charlotte's father, Reg Thompson, added: "There are so many people who suffer the same tragedy that we suffer and suffer in silence.

"What Network Rail have promised to do today in court, which is to spend £130 million on improving safety on level crossings, and the changes that they have already made, have come about because of the terrible thing that happened to our daughters."

Network Rail chief executive Sir David Higgins said:

Network Rail has been fined £1m for breaching health and safety laws at a level crossing where two teenage girls were killed.

Judge David Turner QC, sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court, also ordered the authority to pay £60,000 costs.

Speaking in February, Network Rail chief executive Sir David Higgins said: "I and my directors decided last week that we would forego any entitlement and instead allocate the money to the safety improvement fund for level crossings."

His company will be sentenced later today for breaching health and safety laws at a level crossing where two teenage girls were killed.

The father of one of the teenage girls killed on a level crossing in 2005, seen above speaking earlier this year, has been calling on Network Rail to accept some blame for the accident for years.

Chris Bazlinton, father of Olivia Bazlinton, said there were "significant failings" in Network Rail's management.

The company will be sentenced today.

This is the statement Network Rail released in January after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches which led to the deaths of two teenage girls in Elsenham, Essex:

This is the level crossing where Olivia Bazlinton and Charlotte Thompson tragically died in 2005. Network Rail have admitted the crossing was unsafe and closed more than 500 other crossings as a result of the incident.