A MOTORIST who drove over a level crossing as a train was approaching faces of a court bill of nearly £500.

Nicholas Mark Hartley, 32, did not appear in answer to a summons to attend York Magistrates' Court, even though magistrates heard he had been at the same court two days earlier.

Katy Varlow, prosecuting, said the lights on Nether Poppleton level crossing were flashing as Hartley drove across it on March 3.

British Transport Police offered him the chance to avoid prosecution by going on a driver re-education course, but he didn’t take up the offer.

Hartley, of Westfield Place, Acomb, was convicted in his absence of failure to stop at a red light.

Magistrates put three penalty points on his driving licence.

They also ordered him to pay £448 consisting of a £330 fine, a £33 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.