A YOUNG girl has been caught on camera dangerously clambering over the closed automatic barriers of a railway crossing in order to pick something up off of the tracks.

At about 7.30am yesterday, at the Great Bentley train station, a teenager in a red jacket was filmed hopping over the crossing gates.

After finding her footing on the train tracks, she then appeared to quickly crouch down to pick something up before climbing back over the barriers.

In footage captured by an approaching driver, the girl was then seen casually walking off with her friend.

The stunned driver has since shared the dashcam video online resulting in many people angrily commenting on the “stupidity” of the girl’s actions.

Some have even called for her to be tracked down and fined by the police.

But Bev Wallis, from Great Bentley, believes the public should be looking to better educate her, rather than simply lambasting a dangerous momentary lapse of judgement.

“It was a daft decision, but unfortunately people, young and old, sometimes make bad choices,” she said.

“Rather than start ranting about fines it would be more useful to find out who this is and talk to her.

“We should warn her about how dangerous this was and how whatever she dropped wasn’t that important.

“It clearly was a split second thing, not a planned thing, so rather than the usual witch hunt, safety advice would be in the better interests of the young lady.”

Becky Crocker, Network Rail’s community safety manager for Anglia, has now reissued warnings to people to be aware of the dangers of trespassing on train tracks.

She said: “You should never enter the level crossing when the barriers are down even if you have dropped something on the tracks.

“A train could be only seconds away, isn’t worth the risk.”

To find out more about Network Rail's safety campaigns visit networkrail.co.uk.