'I missed doomed service'

A fateful few minutes of delays on the Tube stopped Shankar Seetharamam from catching the doomed King's Cross to King's Lynn train.

But today the 34-year-old was back at Cambridge station alongside hundreds of other apprehensive travellers for the journey.

Mr Seetharamam said: "I worked late all last week so I took a half-day on Friday. Had it not been for a few delays on the Tube on my journey to King's Cross I would have been on that train.

"I was shocked when I heard what happened. I was on the next train out of King's Cross on that line.

"I can't afford to be afraid of getting the train, there's simply no other option for me to get to work."

The pharmacist, who works at St Thomas's Hospital in London, said: "It was simply a stroke of fate that I did not catch that train."

Like Mr Seetharamam, stockbroker John Phelps, 37, often left work early on Friday after a long week.Mr Phelps, who lives in Cambridge, said: "I get away early on Fridays to make the most of the weekend. I've taken that train many times. Fortunately I got the 5.15 train last Friday. When I got out at the end I received dozens of calls from friends worried about me."

Mr Phelps, who pays £4,586 for his first-class season ticket, said: "I've read a lot already about this being a freak accident. But there have been so many freak accidents in recent times that you have to question whether it could be called a freak anymore.

"Commuters have no other option. I am slightly afraid to get on the trains now. I had travelled on that bit of line earlier that day, it frightens me to say. I've taken that earlier train many times. I sit in the first-class carriage which is the last carriage and that was the worst affected. I shudder to think what might have happened."