A 45-year-old man who threatened to jump from a railway bridge costing the rail industry more than a million pounds has been jailed for 4 months.

Michael Livingstone, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at South Cheshire Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 20 November, after pleading guilty to obstructing the railway, following a British Transport Police investigation.

The charge relates to an incident that occurred shortly before 5.30pm on Wednesday, 28 October, this year when Livingstone climbed onto a railway bridge on Hungerford Road, Crewe, and sat on the parapet in a precarious position.

Because he was sat directly above live rails, trains had to be cancelled and the electricity supply cut off. This resulted in signalling problems at a number of key stations including Liverpool Lime Street, Warrington, Manchester Piccadilly and Runcorn and at Speke and Ditton junctions and had a knock on effect on trains across the entire rail network.

After a four hour stand off Police negotiators managed to talk Livingstone down from the bridge.

The total delay to trains as a results of Livingstone’s actions was 10,602 minutes, with 60 trains being cancelled and a cost to Network Rail of £1.3 million.

In police interview Livingstone admitted the offence.

He was jailed last Friday and ordered to pay in £345 in court costs.

Chief inspector Sue Peters said: “This case clearly emphasises the impact of trespass and obstructing the railway. Livingstone’s actions affected a significant part of the rail network and the severity of his actions, along with the considerable cost incurred, are reflected in the custodial sentence handed to him.

“Incidents like these cause huge delays and have far reaching consequences, not least to the travelling public, many of whom had trains cancelled for several hours.”