Cumbria survivor tells of ordeal

A woman who walked away virtually unscathed from the Cumbria train crash today told how she was flung around the carriage "like a pin in a pinball machine" before it came to rest upside down.

As the Virgin Pendolino train careered off the West Coast Main Line, near Kendal in Cumbria last night, killing one passenger, Rebecca Denholme was flung around the carriage before it came to rest upside down.

She was fortunate to suffer only minor bruising to her body and was well enough to spend the night in a local hotel rather than the hospital.

The 25-year-old was returning to her home in Glasgow on the London Euston to Glasgow service when the accident happened.

Virgin boss Richard Branson has already revealed that the train - travelling at 95mph - came off the track and continued at high speed down the line, finally coming to rest on the embankment.

Miss Denholme, who sells vintage clothes, said: "When I stopped moving my seat was on the ceiling, which was quite strange.

"It was like being a pin in a pinball machine. I feel like I have been beaten up.

"I smashed by hip and shoulder blade and have been hit in the stomach."

Miss Denholme praised the work of emergency services and said she was looking forward to getting back home to Glasgow and putting the experience behind her.