Incompetence caused Potters Bar crash

Poor maintenance and track points which were badly out of condition caused the Potters Bar train disaster, a damning report concludes today.

An 80-page dossier rips to shreds the claim by private maintenance contractor Jarvis that the crash could have been the result of sabotage. Seven people died and 76 were injured on the London to King's Lynn service last May in the 100mph derailment.

Safety chiefs are "satisfied that no evidence has yet been established to support speculation that sabotage or deliberate unauthorised interference was the direct or root cause of the derailment".

Instead the report highlights inadequately maintained and badly set-up points for which Jarvis was solely responsible.

Nor had maintenance staff been trained properly in both maintenance and inspection procedure. There was a failure "to recognise safety-related defects" in the points set-up.

The crash occurred when the points changed direction as a four-coach express service out of King's Cross operated by WAGN sped over them just south of the Hertfordshire station.

This caused the last carriage to derail, slewing sideways and slamming into the Potters Bar station platform.

Today's report by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) highlights a catalogue of failings both in maintaining the points which broke and others in the surrounding area.

The points were held in place by three "stretcher" bars. Four nuts were missing - two each from two of the bars. The nuts were subsequently found by investigators lying "neatly" under the tracks. But despite exhaustive inquiries it has still not been established exactly why the nuts were missing.

The report concludes:

Investigators also found evidence that attempts had been made to "improve the retention" on similar stretcher bar nuts on other sets of points "suggesting there had been difficulties in the area with such nuts loosening".

On the maintenance of the track, the report says: "Contractors undertaking maintenance... do not appear to have had available relevant detailed guidance developed from an adequate understanding of the design and safety requirements for set-up, inspection and maintenance of this type of points."

It says the absence of an " adequate understanding" of the points meant that a "relevant risk-based inspection regime could not be developed".

Days after the crash an Evening Standard investigation revealed a catalogue of negligence, mismanagement and safety breaches on the railways.

An undercover reporter got a job as a rail maintenance worker and found evidence of faulty rails and ignorance of the most basic safety procedures.

A spokesman for Jarvis said the company had only just received today's report and would be making a statement later.

Railtrack is also singled out for criticism in not identifying early enough improvements to the particular set of points which failed.

With the various parties blaming each other for the crash, no one has yet accepted responsibility. As a result, those injured and relatives of the dead have been refused legal aid and still cannot seek compensation.

A lawyer representing some of the families, Louise Christian, said today: "Because nobody has accepted responsibility that has an impact for the civil proceedings."

She added: "The great fear is that while nobody accepts responsibility not enough is being done to put things right. Only a public inquiry can really address what's gone wrong."