THE lives of two teenage friends - Stuart Adams and Lee Mullis - were claimed by the Good Friday accident on a railway line running through Darlington.

But, as is the case in all railway tragedies, there was another victim.

The driver of the train on that terrible day was Andy Scott and he has to live with the memory for the rest of his life.

Mr Scott's story is told in The Northern Echo for the first time today. He tells of his feelings at discovering that his train had struck two boys, and of the flashbacks and nightmares he has suffered ever since.

We approached Mr Scott in the hope that he would help us hammer home the message about the danger of trespassing on railways and how lives are shattered as a result.

He has done much more than we had hoped. He has offered to go into schools as part of our No Messin' campaign to tell youngsters at first hand about what is at risk.

It is a rare, courageous and generous offer which should be gratefully accepted by education authorities because every opportunity must be taken to help avoid another tragedy.

Andy Scott has a shocking story to tell but one that can have a tremendously positive impact.

As he says himself, if the sharing of his horrific experiences persuades one youngster to avoid playing around a railway track, his efforts will have been priceless.