Pictures & video: 'Horror crash' drama lesson for Shropshire's 999 teams

A driver had lost control of a car and it had run through a hedge, down a bank and finished up on a railway track.

Then a train had hit the car, pushing it a hundred yards along the track, before the train managed to stop.

By the time the emergency services arrived at the scene, there were multiple casualties in the car and on the train, with a fire also having broken out in one of the carriages.

Thankfully, this was just part of a training exercise. But all those involved knew that one day their skills could be called on in a similar scenario.

The multi-agency major incident training exercise involved Shropshire Fire and Rescue and West Midlands Ambulance Service, including their specialist Hazardous Area Rescue Team, known as Hart.

The exercise was staged at Eardington Halt, on the Severn Valley Railway line, about one and a half miles outside of Bridgnorth.

The car and train were carefully put in position on the track and then the people playing the casualties took their places in the vehicles.

Tony Talbot, of Shropshire Fire and Rescue's Group Support Team, said the main aim of the exercise was to assess how different members of the emergency services work together.

He said: "In this exercise we have two major casualty areas and want to see how well the agencies work together to help them.

"The victims have a mixture of injuries, some minor, some severe and we are also dealing with some fatalities."

One aspect of the exercise that everybody taking part preserved was realism, with the casualties in the car and on the train needing to behave true to the nature of their injuries.

The roles of all the casualties were taken by students from Telford College of Art and Technology. Dylan Stretham, 17, from Hollinswood, was one of the casualties in the car and is currently on a two-year public services course at TCAT.

He said: "I want to be a fireman, so when I was asked if I wanted to take part in the exercise I jumped at the chance. This has been a great opportunity to see the fire crew and the other emergency teams at work."

Matt Bradley, 16, from Albrighton, was another student from the public service course taking the role of a casualty and he said it had been a very informative experience.

He said: "It is great to be involved in an exercise like this and as I want to work in the fire service I learned a lot from it."

Dylan and Matt were both passengers in the car that had been supposedly hit by the train and were both trapped in the vehicle.

Given their supposed injuries, fire crews, supported by paramedics, made the decision to cut them out of the vehicle.

To do that they used a range of tools including a hydraulic cutter, a hydraulic ram and a hydraulic spreader. The drama didn't just involve the emergency services. It also required the Severn Valley Railway staff to play their part.

Mel Cook, the safety officer at the SVR and a former firefighter, said that the SVR works regularly with Shropshire Fire and Rescue.

He said: "We are very happy to be involved in operations like this, which are as much an exercise for us as for the emergency services.

"We carry around 230,000 passengers per year on the line and with that amount of people there will always be potential dangers, but safety is very important to us.

"This incident today could well happen in real life, but we have a very good safety record that we are justifiably proud of. But as good as we are it is important for us to get involved in exercises like this because we can still learn from them."

Lianne Deathridge, of Shropshire Council's Emergency Planning Unit, was another observer at the exercise, along with several of her colleagues.

She said: "It is great that we are able to observe a joint services exercise like this and witness the emergency services working together.

"I know that all involved today will learn a lot and that experience will help and will be of huge benefit when they have to tackle real-life situations."