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Full Details

Surname
BURT
Forename
William
Day
16
Month
03
Year
1931
Age
79
Occupation
Railway Gatekeeper
Mine/Quarry Name
Mossbeath
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Fife Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Cowdenbeath
County
Fifeshire
Details of Event
16 March 1931: Struck By Waggon - The next [fatal accident inquiry] concerned the death of William Burt, railway gatekeeper, c/o Whyte, 234 Broad Street, Cowdenbeath, who died in the Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital on 16th March as the result of injuries received on 5th March when he was struck by a railway waggon at the Mossbeath Colliery railway level crossing in Broad Street, Cowdenbeath, while in the course of his employment there. James Beveridge, shunter, 1 East Park Street, Cowdenbeath, employed by the Fife Coal Company at Mossbeath Colliery, said deceased, although 79 years of age, was an active and alert man. About 4.30pm on the day of the accident he was engaged to take a train of eight empty waggons from Hill of Beath sidings to Mossbeath. About 150 yards from the crossing the engine driver blew his whistle, and Burt gave them the signal to come on. At the time Burt was standing in the middle of the road. The train was being propelled and witness was in the first waggon. The first waggon was just about to cross the road when a motor car approached at a very fast speed from the west. The driver crossed to the side of the road with the apparent intention of trying to get past the front of the waggons. When witnesses last saw Burt he was about 3ft 6 in from the path of the motor car signalling it to stop. The next he saw of Burt was him lying on the ground. He overheard Burt tell the driver of the train that “the waggon had caught his arm and birled him round.” It was the fall to the causeway that had hurt him. Alexander Welsh, colliery locomotive driver, 318 Broad Street, Cowdenbeath, said he got the signal from Beveridge after he had blown his whistle to go on. The train was only proceeding at walking pace. About half way over the road he got the signal to stop from Beveridge, and he stopped in a waggon length. He then found Burt had been knocked down. Burt said he must have been standing close to the waggons. John Greig, police constable, Dunfermline, who took a statement from the deceased in hospital was to the effect that when the race of waggons came up he stepped into the road to see that all was clear. A motor car approached at the time and he tried to stop it. He was struck by the first waggon and knocked down, injuring his leg. A formal verdict was returned. [Dunfermline Journal 19 May 1931]