A man’s drunken antics on Scotland’s east coast main line forced a train to be stopped at Carnoustie.
Shocked signal box staff had used a station tannoy to warn Graham Sharpe off the lines at the Angus stop.
When he refused to heed their warning they had no option but to stop a train while the situation was brought under control.
Sharpe received an eight-week high tariff deferred sentence when he appeared at Forfar sheriff court but has been warned he is “on the edge” of going to jail after accumulating a lengthy record while abusing alcohol.
The 48-year-old, of James Street in Carnoustie appeared for sentence having previously admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at the town’s railway station on November 23, threatening to commit suicide, and throwing sticks and stones on the line, causing trains to be halted.
He also pleaded guilty to breaching the peace and breaking a special bail condition at a house in Arbroath.
Depute fiscal Jim Eodonable said the station incident happened around 2.45pm when a staff member saw Sharpe on the northbound platform, shouting: “I want a train to Arbroath.”
“The staff member lost sight of the accused and some minutes later he is then see crossing the tracks between the north and southbound railway lines,” added the fiscal.
Sharpe was then warned by tannoy to get off the tracks and contingency plans were put in place to protect him, resulting in a northbound train due at Carnoustie being immediately halted and held on the line near the station.
“Police attended and the accused explained he was drunk and confused. He caused the officers no difficulty,” added Mr Eodonable.
Defence solicitor Angela McLardy said Sharpe had no explanation for his behaviour.
“It is a very serious matter and he accepts that he is at breaking point,” she added.
The solicitor said Sharpe’s serious alcohol problem had put him at considerable risk, but had now “turned a corner” and did not want to continue drinking.
The court heard he has been trying to rekindle his relationship with his daughter, but to no avail.
“His marriage broke down, another relationship then broke down.
“It seems to be one thing after another and he turned to alcohol for comfort.”
Ms McLardy added: “The other major concern for him is his elderly mother, who is not in good health and he certainly does not want to be serving a custodial sentence when she passes.
“He is willing to make changes but they will have to be long-term changes.”
Deferring sentence until February, Sheriff Pino Di Emidio told Sharpe: “If his record was appreciably longer then it would quite simply be imprisonment.”