Everyone's laughing at this bloke who jumped a level crossing, then got annoyed when a train came

We all laughed when the notion of the Darwin Awards was first mooted back in the mid-’90s. Stupid people doing such stupid things that they remove themselves from the gene pool, being unable to procreate by dint of the fact that they are, well, dead. Thus the overall quality of the human race is improved, and evolution may progress. You shouldn’t laugh, but you do; after all, no one really deserves to die, no matter how idiotic their actions.

Then sometimes you see something that makes you think “actually the Darwin Awards might be quite useful”.

Witness this absolute idiot, who decided that the barriers being down at a level crossing outside North Sheen station should not be an impediment to his onward journey. You know, those level crossing barriers that are only ever down when there is an actual, massive train about to hurtle along the line at great speed.

Despite being urged to wait by onlookers, and screaming back “I don’t fucking care mate,” he lifts his bike over the barrier before struggling to walk between them – thankfully for him, and unfortunately for the progression of the human race – for that struggle then means that he just avoids being hit by the train.

Brilliantly – and this really is the pinnacle of the clip – he then appears to be annoyed that the train is there and stopping his progress. What a bloody cheek eh? That train travelling on its tracks exactly when it’s supposed to, what a bastard.

The clip ends with the train still moving but according to witnesses, his barrier-hopping was ultimately pointless anyway, since the train stopped at the station just the other side of the crossing, blocking the line. He apparently went back over the barrier, and over the footbridge. Which is what he should have done in the first place.

Jeremy Vine shared the video on Twitter, commenting: “The barrier is there for a reason”. In another post, he also made the not unreasonable comment: “And when this jerk has to be scraped off the front of a train, the poor driver needs counselling for years.”

Moral of the story: just don’t be a prick, OK?