Questions are again being raised about the safety of level crossings in Sussex following two rail crashes in the space of a couple of hours on Friday.

Two years ago van driver Anthony Watling escaped death when a train smashed into his van at the unmanned crossing at Old Salts Farm Road, Lancing.

It cost Railtrack £1.2 million to repair the damage caused after his van was hit by the 18:35 Brighton to Portsmouth train service on February 14 2001.

Mr Watling, 43, of Owlbeech Way, Horsham, was unanimously acquitted of endangering passengers and the judge gave a stern warning about the safety of unmanned crossings calling for Railtrack to review its safety procedures.

Meanwhile, there are proposals to introduce full-width barriers at the A27 Beddingham rail crossing, near Lewes, which has had 25 accidents in the past four years.

The crossing, which has a half-barrier like the one at Fishbourne, has come under scrutiny because of the high number of accidents caused by drivers weaving between the barriers when the crossing is closed.

But Lewes MP Norman Baker this week criticised plans to install a double barrier level crossing there, insisting it would cause "horrendous" delays on the road.

East Sussex County Council and Lewes District Council are examining a proposal which would replace half barriers, down for 37 seconds at a time, with full-length barriers, which would be down for between three and five minutes per train.

But Mr Baker said safety had already been improved at Beddingham through the introduction of CCTV cameras to stop red light jumpers.

Commenting on yesterday's crashes, Mr Baker said collisions could take place regardless of whether double or single barriers were in place, adding: "Any accidents involving members of the public, whether on railways or roads are unfortunate, and lessons have to be learned."

Tex Pemberton, West Sussex County Council Cabinet member for strategic environmental services, said: "We have a lot of crossings and we need to do something about them because they cause congestion.

"We are always trying to press the SRA that we should get away from crossings.

"We need to reduce the amount of crossings and have more crossings with bridges in which case these accidents would not have happened.

"We will keep on pressing for separate crossings and safety is just one of the numerous reasons why."