Disruption after stolen truck crashes into level crossing

Gardaí are investigating an incident in which a stolen Dublin City Council bin truck crashed into a level crossing barrier on the northside of the city causing the suspension of part of the DART services for the rest of the evening.

The incident happened at around 6pm at the Sutton level crossing near Sutton DART station.

Dublin City Council said the small bin truck, known as a side loader, was stolen from Parliament Street in Dublin city centre earlier this evening as a member of its waste management team was emptying a bin in the area.

It said the theft was reported to gardaí who subsequently intercepted the vehicle some time later.

In a statement, gardaí said: “During the course of a traffic enforcement checkpoint being conducted at approximately 5:40pm on Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1, a vehicle failed to stop for gardaí.

“Following enquiries, gardaí became aware this vehicle was subject to an unauthorised taking earlier in the afternoon in the North Central area of Dublin city and the movements of the vehicle was monitored by a number of garda units.

“This vehicle later collided with level-crossing barriers at a railway level crossing in Sutton where it came to a stop.”

The driver was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Irish Rail said that services between Howth junction and Howth are expected to be suspended for the remainder of the evening to allow the repair of the “significant damage” to the barrier and to facilitate a garda investigation into the incident.

Irish Rail said Dublin Bus will accept rail tickets for travel to or from Howth, Sutton and Bayside.