A volunteer at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway has recounted the terrifying moment a group of teenagers jumped out on live tracks and forced him to make an emergency stop.

Publicity Manager Allan Bott, who has volunteered for many years, was driving a 100 ton train when the group jumped onto the line "at the last minute".

“There have been incidences in the past where I have been driving, a bunch of teens have jumped out at the last minute and I’ve had to pull an emergency stop,” he said.

“And when you have a train of 100 tons at 15mph it’s going to take a few seconds to stop.”

It comes after the heritage railway in Blunsdon has continuously condemned a number of trespass incidents in recent months.

In April, volunteers chased trespassers off the tracks, which resulted in Wiltshire Police being called.

And in June 2021, vandals travelled over the live tracks and left bricks and other objects on them.

In a more devasting incident for the railway, a diesel multiple unit was damaged beyond repair after it was set on fire.

£100,000 worth of damage was caused to the Thumper Unit.

Now, the railway has hit back at the people who keep causing misery to the volunteers.

Mr Bott told the Adver: “We still get a lot of vandalism at the railway as the summer months draw in.

“It always seems young children who trespass on the railway and causes some damage.”

Mr Bott confirmed that the railway was looking to install CCTV across the site in order to catch the perpetrators in action.

Allan has volunteered for the railway for a number of years and has done all sorts of duties from restoring locomotives to actually driving them.

The railway is now pushing north towards Cricklade to extend the line to the town which has not seen a train since September 1961.

However, progress has been slow as people allegedly keep fly-tipping on the extension site.

On this, Mr Bott said: “It is frustrating because it puts a delay on things, we have to make sure that any waste that is fly-tipped isn’t contaminated.

“If it is then it could open a can of worms, so we have to make sure that it is disposed of correctly.”