[3]: 15  The crossing sequence—comprising flashing lights, alarms, and the barriers—is triggered automatically by approaching trains when they activate a treadle known as the strike-in point.

[2]: 28  At Ufton Nervet, the strike-in point was 1,907 yards (1,744 m) from the crossing, which gave 39 seconds for trains travelling at the line speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

The car driver was Brian Drysdale, a 48-year-old chef employed at Wokefield Park, approximately 7 miles (11 km) from Ufton Nervet.

[5] He was concerned about the upcoming results from a recent HIV test,[a] thinking that he had contracted the virus from a relationship in the late 1990s and possibly believing that he had developed AIDS.

[6][8] The train involved in the crash was the 17:35 First Great Western (FGW) service from London Paddington to Plymouth, carrying headcode 1C92.

[9]: 8  The impact trapped the car's engine block beneath the train's leading axle, lifting the wheelset and causing the bogie to yaw.

[9]: 13  The train continued upright for 91 metres (299 ft) when it reached a set of points at the start of a loop, causing a "catastrophic derailment" of all vehicles.

[10] Trailing power car 43029 sustained only minor damage[2]: 124  and was later returned to service, eventually being renamed Caldicot Castle.

[2]: 157  The report made recommendations including improving emergency communications at the level crossing and moving a set of points whose position was a factor in the train's derailment.

[23]: 1  The report concluded that two-point seat belts would cause more injury to passengers in the majority of incidents, and the RSSB recommended they were not installed.

[28] The inquest finally began in October 2007,[29] after Mr Justice Owen overturned Bridget Prentice's original decision to deny legal aid.

[30] The jury heard the testimony of the police officer witness, who stated that Drysdale did not appear to be acting with any urgency;[14] he believed that the crash was caused by a suicide attempt.

[29] A forensic investigator told the inquest that he had been able to determine that the car had been parked on the level crossing with its engine and lights switched off.

[31]: 23 During the inquest, David Main—whose partner and daughter were killed—described how "trains are not safe [...] If laminated glass had been fitted they wouldn't have been [ejected from the carriage]".

[17] The county coroner stated that Drysdale's mental health was a "key clue to the cause of the tragedy" and the results of a psychological analysis would play an "active part" in explaining why he parked his car on the crossing.

[32]: 00:01 In 2005 the Royal Humane Society awarded its bronze medal to two passengers who had assisted those injured and trapped after the crash,[33] as well as having found two of the fatalities.

[34] The two men found nine-year-old Louella Main and the body of her mother Anjanette Rossi; both had been ejected from the train during the crash.

[36] A plaque at the memorial reads "For all those affected by the catastrophic derailment of the First Great Western 17.35 Paddington to Plymouth train on 6 November 2004 [...] One event, many realities".

[37] Originally located on the south side of the railway line, the garden was relocated and joined with one dedicated to Martin in 2015 when preparatory work for the road bridge began.

[39] When 43139 was acquired by ScotRail in 2019, the name was transferred to GWR's 43198 alongside that of driver Brian Cooper who died in the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash.

[1]: 7 Following the 2011 near-miss incident, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said that AHBCs are prohibited in some countries as unsafe, and that "level crossings on high speed train lines should be banned and replaced with bridges [or] underpasses".

[50] On the tenth anniversary of the 2004 incident, and shortly after the 2014 fatality, the RMT repeated calls for the crossing to be made safe "[with] no more delays".