He was 11 when he tragically lost his life after being electrocuted by arcing overhead line equipment. Now you can watch his story.
Do you remember being 11 years old? No age at all, is it? Life hasn’t begun yet, but you still think an afternoon lasts a decade and whatever you’re waiting for is always just out of reach. Yours is probably a world of gaming, of sport, of freedom.
You won’t feel any freedom when you are 11, of course. That always comes later. Harrison Ballantyne was 11 when he tragically lost his life. He was electrocuted by arcing overhead line equipment (OLE) at Daventry International Freight Depot in June 2017. He never got to look back on his younger self. Think of all those things he never got to do. And then think of his parents.
Harrison’s parents are to be admired. They wanted to get their son’s story out there. They knew that trespass is still a huge problem on the railway, that nearly 20,000 incidents were recorded last year. As a result, Harrison’s Story was released as part of You vs Train campaign. This aims to educate people about the dangers, both obvious and hidden, that are present on the railway and, in doing so, deter trespass.
The public-facing film was launched in October 2022 and featured Network Rail and Harrison’s mum Liz live on BBC Breakfast.
Learn Live partners with industry to connect industry to schools and support delivery of railway safety education. Since 2019, they have engaged with 7,429 schools and reached an audience of 14.7m viewers. On 18 November 2022, they held a live broadcast of Harrison’s Story from the Guilsborough Academy. The broadcast was sponsored by Colas Rail and reached more than 92,000 students.
RSSB is supporting the launch of an industry-facing film developed by Network Rail, British Transport Police and industry partners, which aims to remind people responsible for managing trespass risk of the consequences when we get things wrong. After all, no one should ever be in Harrison’s position. And no one should have to suffer like his parents.
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