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Ministers were accused of a "cover-up" today after refusing to hold a public inquiry into two major rail crashes which left eight people dead.
Families whose loved ones died in the Potters Bar rail crash were dismayed by the decision to order inquests instead of a joint public inquiry.
New Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said the inquests would allow for "appropriate independent investigations of the accidents" and be capable of examining the relevant issues.
However, Louise Christian, a solicitor representing bereaved families of Potters Bar victims and seven people injured in the Grayrigg crash, said only a public inquiry would allow the full lessons to be learned about wider failures in the rail industry which contributed to the crashes.
"This is a cover-up," she said. "The families are going to be extremely upset."
Seven people were killed and 76 injured when a West Anglia Great Northern high-speed train was derailed in May 2002 as it went over faulty points outside Potters Bar station.
Writer Nina Bawden, 84, whose husband Austen Kark was killed, said today: "We have worked hard for a public inquiry and I am disappointed we are not going to get one." She was badly injured in the accident.
In February 2007, an inquest into the fatalities was put on hold after a similar crash involving faulty points in Grayrigg, Cumbria.
An elderly woman was killed and 86 people injured when a Virgin Rail Pendolino train from London to Glasgow passed over a faulty set of points at 95mph and was derailed.
At the time, High Court judge Mr Justice Sullivan, in charge of the Potters Bar inquest, called for an inquiry into possible links between the two crashes.
Today, Lord Adonis expressed regret for the delay in the Government's decision.
An investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch into Grayrigg had considered relevant issues arising from previous incidents including Potters Bar, he added.
The Office of Rail Regulation said no further immediate actions were needed to ensure safety following the investigators' final report into Grayrigg.
At the time of the accident, the Potters Bar section of track was being maintained by Jarvis and overall responsibility for safety lay with Railtrack, which was replaced by Network Rail.
In April 2004, NR and Jarvis formally accepted liability for all legally justified claims brought by victims. NR has accepted blame for the Grayrigg crash.
Reader views (2)
this is another example of the governments arrogance and contempt for ordinary people. they have no sense of decency or of natural justice, they only give lip-service to democracy, and will do anything for money, both corporately and personally. they have an agenda,to tax us until the country is as poor as a third world state, and subjugate us under a one world system.
- Rowland May, United Kingdom, 20/06/2009 07:32
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".. public interest .."?
".. two 'independent' inquests .."?
Since when has this government ever held the interests of the public as priority?
Independent seems to be one of those words Labour has deleted from the dictionary.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 19/06/2009 14:45
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