With their flight due to leave Departing within a few hours and Jones unable to walk , bassist Richard Jones had to transport Sending the singer across the airport in a luggage trolley .

The postman went Motion into the station collected a luggage trolley and took Motion it along the platform to the platform side of the gate .

The postman put down the handle by which he was drawing the trolley and unlocked Self_motion the gate .

He then reached Arriving round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line .

He then reached Arriving round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line .

He and the station foreman tried Creating frantically to clear the trolley off the line as the signals were already set for the 19:15 London St Pancras to Manchester express to pass through the station non-stop .

A train at the up platform prevented Preventing_or_letting them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line , and it was not possible to lift Body_movement the c hundredweight ( 230kg ) trolley 2 ft to get it back onto the platform .

A train at the up platform prevented Preventing_or_letting them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line , and it was not possible to lift Body_movement the c hundredweight ( 230kg ) trolley 2 ft to get it back onto the platform .

They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the `` six-foot '' between the two lines , but did not succeed and had to jump Self_motion for their lives as the express neared .

The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed Motion_directional on hitting the trolley , but the driving wheels did not ; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed , detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards .

Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken .