Police are looking into an event where a dustcart owned by Dublin City Council was stolen, later colliding into level crossing barriers at Sutton, Co Dublin. The accident that occurred just shy of 6pm was involving a small dustcart thought to have driven through “fully dropped” barriers, as per a representative of Irish Rail.
The barriers suffered damage due to the event and the dustcart came to a halt a bit further up the road. The occurrence led to significant congestion in the northern part of the city including a full suspension of Dart services between Howth and Howth Junction.
The Dublin City Council confirmed that one of their dustcarts was taken from Parliament Street in Dublin 2, while a worker from the waste management was emptying a rubbish bin.
The city council worker promptly informed his immediate superiors, who reached out to the police providing them with the dustcart details, as per the city council spokesperson.
A police spokesperson mentioned while a traffic control and enforcement checkpoint was taking place at about 5.40pm on Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1, one vehicle did not halt for the police.
After making inquiries, it was established that the vehicle had been taken without authorisation in the afternoon in the north central Dublin city area and several police units were monitoring its movement. The vehicle later collided at a railway level crossing in Sutton where it came to a halt.
The male driver was transferred to a Dublin hospital with injuries which were non-life threatening. No other injuries were reported to the police by Thursday night.
A bystander, Peter Barrins from Baldoyle, who was present at the level crossing during the event mentioned that it “could have been much more severe”.
Barrins mentioned he was walking his dog on Strand Road from Baldoyle towards Sutton. The level crossing came down while he was waiting to cross. He then saw a Dublin City Council van used for collection of waste bins approaching at a high speed. Upon realising it wasn’t going to stop, the van drove straight through the middle of the barriers, colliding with the car that was directly behind Barrins.
Barrins said that the dustcart hit the front right corner of another car but it seemed to withstand it well.
Mr Barrins declared he was on the verge of dialling 999 just before numerous police vehicles turned up and arrested the van driver. “The man driving the van seemed alright,” he stated, “I was about to phone for help, however, I spotted several police vehicles chasing after him, and in no time, around 20 police officers had surrounded him. He had been floored and even lost his shoe. It was all rather chaotic.
He also mentioned that there was this lady in a car with two children, with another woman on the other side who suffered a few minor cuts. Amazingly, no one sustained severe injuries. Shards of wreckage found their way to my hair and clothing – I simply wanted to flee the scene.
One of the officers informed me they had been trailing the man all over the town for several hours. On my route towards Sutton, a covert police jeep with blue lights zooming past was a sight. It would have been an appalling calamity had it rammed into the level crossing at the same time as the train was passing. Provided that had happened, it’s certain I wouldn’t be speaking to you right now.
As for ongoing exploration related to the incident, the official police spokesperson declared that they are indeed following a specific line of enquiry.