Passengers injured after train hits trailer on level crossing - as police arrest man

More than a dozen people have been injured after a train hit an agricultural trailer on a level crossing in Herefordshire, according to emergency services.

British Transport Police (BTP) said officers were called to the site north of Leominster at 10.40am on Thursday. A man has been airlifted to hospital and a woman has also been taken to hospital.

A further 15 people, who were passengers on the train, were assessed by paramedics but discharged at the scene, West Midlands Ambulance Service said. A spokesperson confirmed that nobody from the tractor-trailer required assessment.

Police have confirmed that a 32-year-old man from Bromyard has been arrested on suspicion of endangering safety on the railway. Firefighters and officers from West Mercia Police also attended the scene.

A spokesperson for Transport for Wales (TfW) confirmed its 8.30am service between Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central hit an "obstruction" at a crossing between Ludlow and Leominster. All lines between the Hereford and Craven Arms stations are blocked and trains will not run between the two.

Replacement road transport is being put in place and TfW tickets are currently being accepted by Northern, Avanti, GWR and CrossCountry, it said. Disruption is expected to last until the end of the day and a spokesperson for the company advised anyone travelling on Thursday to check before they travel.

A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was "called to an incident on the railway track at Nordan Farm, Leominster, at 10.46am". "On arrival crews found a man who was a passenger on the train, they treated him for non-life threatening injuries before conveying him by air ambulance to Hereford County Hospital," they added.

"A woman was also treated for injuries not believed to be serious and conveyed by land ambulance to Hereford County Hospital." The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said it had sent a team of inspectors to Leominster "between a passenger train and an agricultural trailer at a user worked level crossing.