Crash chiefs will escape charges

Bereaved families and unions were furious today as the Government shelved plans to jail company bosses responsible for rail crashes and other disasters.

There will be a new offence where companies "have paid little or no proper regard for the safety of their workers or members of the public".

Two weeks after the Southall rail crash, Jack Straw, then shadow home secretary, promised "laws which provide for conviction of directors of companies where it's claimed that as a result of dreadful negligence by the company as a whole, people have lost their lives".

Louise Christian, lawyer for those bereaved by the Potters Bar crash, said there was "a real danger" the Bill was "purely cosmetic".

It follows the collapse of attempts to prosecute chiefs such as Railtrack's Gerald Corbett over the 2000 Hatfield crash.