CALLS have been made for more warning signs to be installed at the district's railway crossings after two boys narrowly avoided electrocuting themselves with their fishing rods on some overhead cables.

Angler Mick Purdy witnessed the young duo walking obliviously over the tracks at Stansted Abbots clutching their lines as they swayed dangerously close to the electric wires.

Mr Purdy said he was worried that the crossing in Roydon had a similar lack of sufficient warning signs.

He said: “At a time when health and safety has gone mad, this one seems to have slipped through the net.

“I stopped the lads as I felt I had to warn them of the danger they had been in.

“The lines are very low, it was very lucky they weren't killed.

“If it's a misty day you don't even need the rods to make contact with the cables, the electricity can still leap out.”

Recent decades have seen increases in the standard length of rods and changes in their material - making them easier conductors of electricity.

While Mr Purdy believes most experienced anglers are aware of such dangers, he said the increase in fishing among younger, more novice, anglers was what worried him.

He added: “Of course kids might not take any notice of the signs anyway but it's better than nothing.”