A man has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after trespassing on the railway for more than eight hours, causing extensive delays and disruption to services.

Adam Kozlowski, aged 37, of Cavendish Close, Enfield, was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court on 26 October after being found guilty of obstruction of the railway.

Kozlowski’s actions at Seven Sisters station on 2 September this year cost Network Rail £437,000 and resulted in 122 cancelled trains and 41 part cancelled trains.

At around 11.20am, Kozlowski jumped over the ticket barriers at Seven Sisters and ran through the station. He then went onto the tracks and climbed up on to a gantry that crosses over the tracks.

The gantry is the support structure for overhead power lines of 25,000 volts.

Kozlowski remained on the gantry all day.

Trains going in and out of the station were stopped, each with passengers on board.

Network Rail had to switch off the power whilst police negotiators and other emergency services dealt with the incident.

With the help of Network Rail Incident Response teams, emergency services accessed the location and worked to prevent Kozlowski from injuring himself or others.

At one point, Kozlowski jumped from the gantry on to a building and fell backwards but fortunately managed to stop himself from falling by grabbing a support post.

He was eventually persuaded to climb down and was arrested at 8.05pm and taken to custody.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £140.

Investigating officer, Det Con Gina Denyan-Watkins said: “These cancellations and delays caused severe implications to travelling members of the public who were trying to go about their daily business, and the knock-on effect of people’s work and social arrangements is immeasurable.

“There were more than 100 train services cancelled and delayed and passengers on board some services had to be evacuated from the trains on to the tracks and walked to a place of safety.

“In committing this offence Kozlowski intently endangered not only his own life but the lives of passengers on board the cancelled and delayed trains, who had to be evacuated from the safe environment of the train directly on to the tracks, as well as the emergency response personnel who attended the scene.

“The location of Kozlowski on the gantry above the overhead power lines and the tracks was also made more dangerous in the fact that the tracks were on a viaduct that was an even greater height down to street level.

“I am satisfied that he has been found guilty of this offence and sent to prison.”