Company faces massive fine over train tragedy
As those bereaved by the October 1999 tragedy looked on, Network Rail’s admission of guilt was given at Blackfriars Crown Court in London.
The not-for-dividend company’s defence QC said he had been instructed to enter a guilty plea to a single indictment, leaving the company facing an unlimited fine.
The indictment cites various breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. In the disaster, the train went through a danger signal and crashed head on with a London-bound Great Western express service in west London.
Yesterday’s guilty plea is simply an admission of risk creation, and does not mean the company accepts responsibility for the crash.
Sentence was adjourned to December 18 to give the defence an opportunity to examine a mass of “unused material” and decide its precise basis of plea.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “The Ladbroke Grove tragedy was a terrible event for everyone involved. Lessons have been learnt and the rail industry has changed enormously for the better over the past seven years.’’
Jonathan Duckworth, chairman of the Paddington Survivors Group, said: “The important message is that if you play with the lives of employees and the public you should be hit very hard with a huge fine.’’
