In other countries, teenagers go to the cinema, go to the beach or go to the shopping mall for fun. But for today's feral youth of Britain the idea of fun is to lie under a railway line as a train approaches...
Terrifying moment teenager lay under a railway line as train sped buy - just inches from his head
6th August 2007
Daily Mail
This is the terrifying moment an idiotic teenager risked death by clambering UNDER a railway line - before a train speeds by just INCHES from his head.
The stunt is filmed by a friend on a mobile phone while a group of youths can be heard in the background shouting encouragement.
Police are now examining the footage - which has been viewed by over 700,000 people on a file-sharing website - and condemned the prank as "madness".
A friend heralds the sign of the oncoming train
The reckless teenager waves from his hiding place under the tracks
A spokesman for British Transport Police said: "Behaviour such as this obviously extremely dangerous.
"Trains certainly can't swerve to avoid people so to actually lie under a railway line is sheer madness.
"Not only is this person putting his life at risk but he's also risking the lives of anyone on the train."
The clip involves at least three boys with Northern Irish accents who appear to be aged around 17 at an unidentified train station.
Headlined "Really stupid Stunt" on the site www.break.com, the footage lasts one minute and 46 seconds. It begins with the prankster - called 'Pikey' by his mates - lying in a 5ft-long gap underneath a railway sleeper.
On several occasions he pokes his head and hands up directly into the path of the oncoming train just moments before it passes.
At one point an older teen, who sounds like the cameraman, warns 'Pikey' to stay down because there is a train approaching.
He yells: "Get down, like. Pikey, this is it now man. Keep your head down, like. S*** my heart's beating, like. Keep your hands down, man." Later, another teen shouts: "Make sure the video gets it."
The train rushes past with the teenager still underneath the tracks
Stunned aftermath: the teenager has survived despite the train passing inches close to his head
As the train screams overhead one hooligan shouts: "Pikey you mad b******, you mad man." After the train passes, one of the teenagers jumps down onto the train tracks to congratulate his pal.
The youngster, dressed in a blue sweatshirt, punches in air in celebration as he emerges from underneath the track.
Safety experts condemned the prank and criticised video websites for showing such footage which could spur potentially deadly copycat attempts.
Roger Vincent, of safety campaigners the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "This kind of thing is totally ridiculous.
"Those children are putting their lives at risk by playing on a railway. Train tracks are not playgrounds, they are potentially very dangerous places.
"By filming it, they are trying to glorify these acts and while they're posing for the camera, their attention is not on looking out for trains.
"If the site operators can do anything about it, they should, otherwise other people will copy them, will potentially fatal results." The risky stunt is the latest in a line of controversial clips posted on YouTube and other video websites.
People have died or have been arrested after attempting stunts of the type commonly found on the internet.
In a 'car surfing' incident last month, a man aged 18, from Chesterton, near Harbury, Warwickshire, died after falling from the roof of a Fiat Punto.
dailymail.co.uk
Terrifying moment teenager lay under a railway line as train sped buy - just inches from his head
6th August 2007
Daily Mail
This is the terrifying moment an idiotic teenager risked death by clambering UNDER a railway line - before a train speeds by just INCHES from his head.
The stunt is filmed by a friend on a mobile phone while a group of youths can be heard in the background shouting encouragement.
Police are now examining the footage - which has been viewed by over 700,000 people on a file-sharing website - and condemned the prank as "madness".
A friend heralds the sign of the oncoming train
The reckless teenager waves from his hiding place under the tracks
A spokesman for British Transport Police said: "Behaviour such as this obviously extremely dangerous.
"Trains certainly can't swerve to avoid people so to actually lie under a railway line is sheer madness.
"Not only is this person putting his life at risk but he's also risking the lives of anyone on the train."
The clip involves at least three boys with Northern Irish accents who appear to be aged around 17 at an unidentified train station.
Headlined "Really stupid Stunt" on the site www.break.com, the footage lasts one minute and 46 seconds. It begins with the prankster - called 'Pikey' by his mates - lying in a 5ft-long gap underneath a railway sleeper.
On several occasions he pokes his head and hands up directly into the path of the oncoming train just moments before it passes.
At one point an older teen, who sounds like the cameraman, warns 'Pikey' to stay down because there is a train approaching.
He yells: "Get down, like. Pikey, this is it now man. Keep your head down, like. S*** my heart's beating, like. Keep your hands down, man." Later, another teen shouts: "Make sure the video gets it."
The train rushes past with the teenager still underneath the tracks
Stunned aftermath: the teenager has survived despite the train passing inches close to his head
As the train screams overhead one hooligan shouts: "Pikey you mad b******, you mad man." After the train passes, one of the teenagers jumps down onto the train tracks to congratulate his pal.
The youngster, dressed in a blue sweatshirt, punches in air in celebration as he emerges from underneath the track.
Safety experts condemned the prank and criticised video websites for showing such footage which could spur potentially deadly copycat attempts.
Roger Vincent, of safety campaigners the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "This kind of thing is totally ridiculous.
"Those children are putting their lives at risk by playing on a railway. Train tracks are not playgrounds, they are potentially very dangerous places.
"By filming it, they are trying to glorify these acts and while they're posing for the camera, their attention is not on looking out for trains.
"If the site operators can do anything about it, they should, otherwise other people will copy them, will potentially fatal results." The risky stunt is the latest in a line of controversial clips posted on YouTube and other video websites.
People have died or have been arrested after attempting stunts of the type commonly found on the internet.
In a 'car surfing' incident last month, a man aged 18, from Chesterton, near Harbury, Warwickshire, died after falling from the roof of a Fiat Punto.
dailymail.co.uk
