Man fined for drunken nap on railway track

Helicopter showed Briton using track as a pillow after too much vodka

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updated 10:43 a.m. ET Dec. 15, 2006

LONDON - A drunken businessman who fell asleep on a railway track causing rush hour disruption was sentenced to 180 hours’ community service on Friday.

Network Rail staff took half an hour to try and wake company director Kevin Craswell after he passed out on a line near Epsom, southern England, last March after drinking a large amount of vodka.

Video pictures taken by a police helicopter showed him using the track as a pillow with a train passing near his head on another line.

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Rail services were disrupted for about four hours during the afternoon rush hour.

Craswell, 48, from Ashtead in Surrey, was given an 18 months’ community order in addition to the community service and ordered to pay $1,090 in compensation (560 pounds) at Redhill magistrates.

He had pleaded guilty last month to “obstructing the railway by neglect.”