Amanda Close's plea for new fence to separate her West Huntspill home from busy railway line

These are the words of Amanda Close, who is calling on Network Rail to replace a temporary fence which separates a busy railway line from her home.

The 43-year-old mother of two, of Bridge View, West Huntspill, moved to the property with her family in 2015 and said she contacted Network Rail after seeing there were a number of holes in the fence.

“When we moved into this house in 2015 it was everything we ever wanted,” Amanda said. “We knew we would have to do a lot of work to it but we wanted to make it a family home.

“We rang Network Rail about the fence as we have two young children and had two dogs and knew it needed to be fixed.

“A female inspector came out and examined the fence and said it was not safe and they would repair it as a matter of urgency.

“A few weeks later the temporary fence was up, but there were still loads of holes in it, it wasn’t safe.”

Amanda claims she has continued to contact Network Rail in the hope that they would replace the fence but says no action has been taken since 2016.

“Two of our family dogs have died after getting through the fence onto the train tracks and we have only lived here for three years,” Amanda said.

“My husband and I have had to spend our own money to build new fences and barricades around the property so our dogs can’t get through, its ridiculous.

“One of our dogs died in 2016 and our other dog Stanley died on the tracks on Sunday (September 30).

“Telling your children their dog died on the tracks is heartbreaking.

“We keep our dogs in kennels at the back of our house now as we are scared to let them outside. We shouldn’t have to live in fear.”

A spokesman for Network Rail, said: “The fence we erected was inspected in 2017 and deemed to be adequate and since then we have not been notified of any changes in its condition.

“We invite the railway lineside neighbour to contact our 24hr helpline: 03457 11 41 41 and we will investigate its condition again.”