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Passengers delayed after train breaks down on Southport to Hunts Cross Line

RAIL passengers faced more than three hours of delays after a train broke down during rush hour.

The train failed between Hall Lane and Hightown on the Southport to Hunts Cross at around 5.30pm.

It brought the line to a standstill as engineers worked to get the train running again.

The train was eventually removed from the track.

Services resumed but with severe delays and cancellations.

One passenger said: “I was on a train behind the broken down one. We were waiting for an hour at Formby. Then we started moving but when we got to Sandhills we were told to get off.

“I was going to St Michael’s and it’s usually a journey that goes straight through. We caught the next train but had to get off at Central and had to wait another 10 minutes .”

Liverpool Echo News

Ferry on the River Mersey

Arson attacks court case hears alleged Croxteth Crew gang member had 'homemade fire bomb'

A TRIAL looking into arson attacks carried out by the alleged Croxteth Crew heard how a police officer discovered a Lucozade bottle filled with white spirit in the home of a defendant.   In the first full day of evidence PC Mark Cotterill told jurors how he went to the home of Ryan Holden, 20, at Hebden Road, Norris Green to look for evidence he had been setting fires.   The trial had already been told that relatives of the Croxteth Crew’s enemies had been fire-bombed in a series of tit for tat revenge attacks beginning in early 2011.   On April 2 Ryan Holden’s mum had the windows of her house smashed which prosecutors say led almost immediately to revenge fire bombings.   That same day a house associated with Lewis Redgrift, who was feuding with alleged Croxteth Crew gang leader Anthony Jewell, was set on fire on Otterton Road, Croxteth.   The front window had been smashed with a half brick and inside the burned house investigators found a melted bottle of Lucozade with the lid on and a second Lucozade top was found at the rear of the conservatory. There were multiple seats of the fire.   Two days later another house, on Polperro Close, was set on fire and another burnt plastic bottle was found along with an orange lid after accelerants were poured through the windows.   PC Cotterill went to Ryan Holden’s house two days later with some colleagues to look for evidence.   He told Liverpool Crown Court: “We were looking for any accelerant especially contained within a Lucozade bottle. My colleague PC Rezjak located a bottle filled with what I believe smelled like white spirit.”   Nicholas Johnson QC asked if there had been any paint pots or brushes, present, or any evidence of recent decorating because Ryan Holden explained it away as being used to clean paint brushes.   PC Cotterill replied: “No.”   Another witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court how a month later she was menaced by a Maroon car driven by Ryan Holden and someone she identified as ‘Burnsey’ probably his co-accused Shaun Byrne, 20, of Stonedale Crescent, Croxteth, but when cross examined she accepted she might have been mistaken.   Shaun Byrne, of Stonedale Crescent, Croxteth, denies conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs.   Ryan Holden, of Montrovia Road, West Derby, denies conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to commit arson, and conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs.   (Proceeding)Read

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