A BIN lorry which damaged a level crossing barrier after shooting a red light caused two trains to be cancelled while repairs were carried out.

And magistrates heard the bill for the incident in Clitheroe in April was £27,000.

Trevor Michael Smith, 49, of Rhodes Avenue, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a traffic signal and was fined £100 with £80 costs.

Judith Balderson, prosecuting, said the signalman in his box had checked on a CCTV monitor before activating the level crossing controls at Low Moor.

After a train going towards Clitheroe had passed through, the signalman started the sequence again because there was a train waiting to leave Clitheroe station, she said.

As the barrier came down it caught on the rear of the Ribble Valley Council bin lorry as it went over the crossing.

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said Smith had stopped at the level crossing. When the train went through and the barriers came up, he followed a van and a car through, he said.

"My client was driving a fully-laden wagon, weighing 26 tons and set off slowly on to the level crossing," said Mr Church-Taylor. "There was no discernable gap in the flashing lights and as he drove on to the crossing he noticed the barriers were beginning to lower.

"He actually stopped in the middle of the railway line and colleagues in the lorry told him to get off. The barrier had come down on the back of the lorry and as he drove off it was bent.

"It was the quick second activation of the system that caught him out."