2002 Rail crash left seven dead and seventy-six with personal injuries
The inquest into the tragic rail crash at Potters Bar station 8 years ago begins in London this week. The accident, which saw 6 passengers and 1 bystander killed, and dozens of others injured, marked a low point in the recent history of the UK railways. Several reports blamed poor maintenance procedures for not spotting a defective section of the track. Missing bolts on a section of points on the track caused one of the carriages of a train passing through the station at nearly 100mph to derail, hitting a bridge and eventually ending up on its side wedged on the platform.
The accident, which happened on 10 May 2002, raised many questions about the state of Britain’s railways and their maintenance, which was largely handled by private contractors. Indeed, it was discovered after the accident that there had been several complaints made by passengers who had reported “rough rides” the night before the crash. An inspection of the track was carried out in response to these concerns, but the wrong section of track was inspected.
At the time of the accident, the London-Kings Lynn train was approaching the station. The train, which was four carriages long, was travelling at around 97mph. As the train entered the station, the last carriage was derailed as it passed over a set of faulty points. These points were missing bolts that should have held them in place, to prevent them accidentally moving when a train passed over them. The last carriage veered to one side, ploughing up the station platform, demolishing a waiting room and coming to a stop wedged under the roof of the station.
At the opening of the inquest, Judge Michael Findlay Baker QC told those present that although the inquest would look at what happened on the day of the accident, why it happened and what lessons had been learned, it would have limits. The most obvious of these limits being that it would not be able to blame any person or organisation for causing the accident.
Railway accident injury compensation
At Camps Solicitors, we specialise in getting the innocent victims of non fault accidents the compensation they deserve. Whatever the type of accident you have been involved in, whether it was a serious train crash such as the Potters Bar crash, a slip in a shop or a car crash, as long as it happened within the last two years and you weren’t responsible then we can help. Our accident lawyers will fight for you to receive the maximum compensation claim possible for your injuries – we won’t short change you.
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