A ONE million euro damage claim by the SNCF against a man who, in a drunken haze, parked his car on a railway line derailing a high-speed train, has been thrown out by a court.
Despite endangering the lives of the 300 people on board the train, driving while drunk and under the influence of cannabis and without insurance, the court at Niort gave the man, aged 24, a suspend sentence of four months.
The man had abandoned his new BMW on the line after becoming lost near Niort in the Charente-Maritime.
No passengers were injured after the train, which was travelling from La Rochelle, derailed.
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Man left his car on railway track
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