Seven-year-old girl ‘injured by metal disc spinning off train’ near Lincoln

The mother of a seven-year-old girl “injured by large heavy metal disc spinning off a freight train” wants to raise awareness of the incident to prevent it happening to anyone else.

Maira Cooke, who works as a nurse, was waiting on platform two at Swinderby station with her children, whose names she wanted to keep anonymous, for a train to Nottingham at around 8.50am on Saturday, March 19.

She had planned to take her seven-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son to Nottingham for his birthday, but the morning instead took a scary turn and left Maira in shock.

Maira, from Eagle, told The Lincolnite she had to take her daughter to Lincoln County Hospital where she had an x-ray, which thankfully didn’t show any fractures or issues. She will return to hospital on Monday to see a consultant for a review as Maira said they are worried about the impact of the injury to her left knee.

She contacted Network Rail and says someone responded to say they were in contact with the freight company who will be carrying out an investigation. Maira also contacted British Transport Police and the Department for Transport, sending photos of the disc and her daughter’s injuries to the latter.

Maira said this the metal disc which hit her daughter was heavy and all jagged.

Maira will be taking her daughter back to hospital on March 28 for the consultant to assess her injuries.

Maira said: “We were waiting for the train and a freight train came past, and we thought it was moving very fast. As I said that to my daughter she fell to the floor.

“I thought maybe she was scared of the noise and tried to help her stand up. She fell to the floor and was screaming and had black marks all over her jeans.

“After looking I could see she had cuts and bruises all over both legs. My son spotted a black circular disc next to her which we realised had spun off the train and hit her. It was really heavy to touch and all jagged.

“We obviously supported her and waved down the gate man and he came over. He asked what had happened and we told him. He asked if we needed an ambulance and he reported it to the accident helpline of Network Rail.

“I’m a nurse and took my daughter home to assess her and the pain and swelling had calmed down. But the bruising and swelling increased later so I took her to Lincoln County Hospital.

“She is very distressed by it and won’t go past any fast moving vehicles and is very upset, and has been waking in the night. She has gone back to school and can walk, but the swelling and bruising is still there.”

Maira said her daughter was left with cuts and bruises all over both legs.

Maira wants to speak out about the incident to raise awareness to other parents.

She added: “We were shocked when its first happened and now we are concerned that if it had been a baby or a toddler it could have killed them.

“We can’t speculate exactly what happened as we are waiting for the investigation.

“I want to raise awareness that these things can happen and to be aware to stand well back, and if you have a pram to face it the other way. We were stood far back and are hoping it was just a freak accident, but it is still very concerning.

“I just want assurance that this will not happen again where a child is injured. It could have been so much worse, but she’s black and blue and had to go to A&E, and she is due back to see the consultant on Monday.”

The Lincolnite contacted Network Rail, who said it was a DB Cargo train so that firm would be carrying out the investigation. The Lincolnite has now contacted DB Cargo UK for a statement about the investigation.