Call for public inquiry over Potters Bar

Pressure mounted today for a full-scale inquiry into the Potters Bar train crash after anger erupted over engineering giant Jarvis's announcement that it was accepting liability for the disaster.

Today MPs joined victims of the crash in calls for a public inquiry and said Jarvis's move to take legal responsibility, but not blame for the accident, did not end the need for answers on its cause.

The maintenance firm was responsible for a set of points which broke when a WAGN express from London to King's Lynn crossed them as it accelerated to almost 100mph, causing it to derail and slam into the station platform.

Seven people died and 76 were injured in the crash, for which Jarvis and Network Rail jointly accepted liability last night.

Today Liberal Democrat transport spokesman John Thurso said there had to be answers to key questions on the cause of the crash.

"We still do not know how the crash occurred and who is actually responsible," he said.

He backed calls from survivors and relatives of the dead for a full-scale inquiry into the ultimate causes of the crash, along the lines of the wide-ranging Cullen inquiry into the Paddington train crash of October 1999.

Today there were claims the Government was attempting to avoid such an inquiry, which would explore its regulation of the privatised rail industry and particularly Railtrack, the predecessor to Network Rail which subcontracted maintenance of the track at Potters Bar to Jarvis. Lawyers for the survivors and bereaved relatives are to pursue legal action against Transport Secretary Alistair Darling in a bid to force a public inquiry, which he has so far ruled out. Instead an inquest into the deaths is to be convened - a move which has further angered campaigners.

Louise Christian, solicitor for the survivors, said she believed the Government had been advised that if Jarvis and Network Rail accepted legal liability for the crash, it would strengthen its case for not holding an inquiry.

British Transport Police has handed over its investigation into the crash to the Health and Safety Executive, meaning there is little likelihood of criminal prosecutions.