The incidents of trains passing signals at danger fell last month, official figures have revealed.

There were 33 signals passed at danger (SPADs) in June 2001 - 14 fewer than in the same month last year, the Health and Safety Executive said.

This followed a big rise in incidents in May, which the HSE said could have been caused by afternoon driver fatigue in warm weather.

But the number of SPADs for June is still causing concern to the HSE.

Concern

It is concerned at the number of signals in the June 2001 list which have also been passed on previous occasions.

The organisation is also worried about the number of drivers who went through signals last month who had previously been involved in such incidents.

The HSE has asked rail engineering consultancy firm WS Atkins to look into what are described as "bad actors" - a signal which has accrued four or more SPADs, or drivers who have two or more, in recent years.

Serious

The HSE said "bad actors" accounted for 61% of the June 2001 SPADs, compared with an average of 40% for previous months.

The HSE said 10 of the June 2001 SPADs were classed as serious compared with 19 in June last year.

In May this year there were 56 SPADs - a significant increase on the May 2000 figure of 35.

It also revealed that one of the June 2001 SPADs led to a derailment and one to track damage.

Consistent pattern

Commenting on the figures, the HSE said the June numbers showed a return to a more consistent pattern after the increase in May.

As far as the "bad actor" incidents last month were concerned, the HSE said it was not able to say whether or not the increase was the start of an upward trend.

The report adds that over the last two years, passenger trains accounted for 54% of all SPADs, according to analysis by the Railtrack subsidiary firm Railway Safety.

More serious SPADs happened on non-passenger lines over that period, the company found.