Ex-GP halted train to help 'save world' - court

A retired GP told a railway worker she had trespassed on a line near a major power station because she "wanted to save the world", a jury has been told.

Environmental protester Diana Warner, 65, flagged down the oncoming train as it approached Drax power station in Selby, North Yorkshire, on 14 December 2021, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Ms Warner, who has previously stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party, denies a single charge of obstructing a railway vehicle.

Giving evidence at the opening day of her trial on Monday, Ms Warner said she had been motivated to stand on the railway line by the "threat of injury to other people and especially to our children" from climate change.

Ms Warner said that on the day of the incident she had been due to attend the High Court for allegedly breaking an injunction by joining an earlier protest on the M25 by campaign group Insulate Britain.

She said she had hoped to draw "attention" to wood-burning practices at Drax, as well as the wider climate emergency, by stopping the train on a day she was due in court.

In a video clip played to the jury, Ms Warner, of Filton Avenue in Bristol, was seen standing next to the train she had managed to briefly stop.

In the clip, she was heard to say: "I'm here because this is the most ridiculous power station on Earth, chomping through so many trees every day.

"We can't do it and survive. We only have a few years left of what we may think is a comfortable life."

Asked by her solicitor, Rosalind Burgin, why she had wanted to be filmed making the protest, Ms Warner replied: "This is what you have to do to make your point now, after 20 years of trying to make the point in other ways."

"I have a granddaughter now and I'm very resigned to the fact she may not live as long as me," she said.

"In this instance, I wasn't harming anybody."

The court had earlier heard a written statement from Kevin Fox, the driver of the train, who said he had seen a figure wearing hi-vis orange clothing on the tracks ahead of him while the train was travelling near Snaith, in East Yorkshire.

At the time, he was travelling towards the power station at about 30mph (48km/h) and was going to Drax to "pick up a load", he added.

Mr Fox said the figure had waved what he initially thought had been a red flag, although it later transpired to be orange, and believed they were trying to indicate an incident had happened on the line ahead.

However, after calling signal operators, Mr Fox said he established there were no issues.

He said the figure moved off the railway line and onto the embankment as the train moved past her and another figure in a "beanie hat" stood beside her.

The jury was also read a written statement from Network Rail employee Simon Vickers, who said the defendant had approached him to "confess" she had been on the railway line after he had been called to the scene.

He said Ms Warner had told him that Drax was "causing deforestation in Canada and she wanted to save the world".

Mr Vickers said the defendant voluntarily waited with him for about "40 to 45 minutes" while they waited for the police to attend, but that no officers arrived.

The trial continues.

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