UK: Jarvis to escape prosecution over Potters Bar rail crash

[John Ashworth]

Jarvis to escape prosecution over Potters Bar crash

Lawyer for relatives of victims condemns 'farce' as rail regulator looks set to drop criminal case against maintenance firm

* Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 March 2011 20.53 GMT

Jarvis will escape prosecution for the fatal Potters Bar train crash after the rail regulator is understood to have dropped criminal proceedings against the maintenance firm.

A lawyer representing families bereaved in the accident slammed the nine-year quest for justice as a "farce", particularly as the taxpayer is instead likely to underwrite a looming six-figure fine for Network Rail over its liability for the incident.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) is preparing to announce that it will not seek a prosecution over the derailment of a train outside Potters Bar station, Hertfordshire, on 10 May 2002 in which seven people died.

Louise Christian, a solicitor who represented families at the inquest into the deaths, said: "There is a huge problem every time we have one of these health and safety disasters. There is no accountability and the prosecutions they bring are a bit of a farce."

A tragic bookend to the Railtrack era that ushered in rail privatisation, the circumstances of the Potters Bar crash highlighted severe strains in the rail industry. Jarvis was contracted by Railtrack to maintain the line but attempted to blame the crash on a saboteur with "informed" engineering knowledge. The company later withdrew the claim in a humiliating apology and admitted joint liability for the crash.

Six passengers on the West Anglia Great Northern train – Austen Kark, Emma Knights, Jonael Schickler, Alexander Ogunwusi, Chia Hsin Lin and Chia Chin Wu – were killed in the accident. A passerby, Agnes Quinlivan, died after she was hit by falling debris.

It is understood that Jarvis's financial problems contributed to the ORR's decision, which it reached after consultation with the victims' families, who have already seen the prospects of criminal proceedings against former Jarvis or Railtrack executive disappear.

Jarvis's rail division is in administration and its administrators have not participated in proceedings, adding further complications to a prosecution under the Health and Safety At Work Act that could only result in a fine against the company.

Perdita Kark, whose father Austen was killed and whose mother, the novelist Nina Bawden, was seriously injured in the derailment, urged the industry to tighten safety standards after a coroner at the Potters Bar inquest warned that passengers still faced safety risks.

"The gut instinct is that one wanted Jarvis in the dock along with Railtrack but in the end you just want to make sure that this sort of thing does not happen again because they have learned something from it. It is disappointing but I don't see how you can bring into court something that does not exist anymore."

Last month Network Rail told Watford magistrates court that it would plead guilty to track safety failings that caused the derailment. Network Rail admitted failings over the installation, maintenance and inspection of stretcher bars, which hold rails apart at the correct width for train wheels.

The owner of Britain's tracks and stations inherited the liability for Potters Bar after it replaced Railtrack months after the crash and it will be sentenced at St Albans crown court on 30 March.

Sentencing guidelines state that a fatal breach of health and safety laws carries a fine of at least £100,000 but the punishment will be underwritten by the state, which put £3.7bn into Network Rail last year and is its main source of funding.

After entering its guilty plea Network Rail said the rail system had improved considerably since the crash, with the last fatal accident due to infrastructure problems occurring in 2007 when a Virgin Trains Pendolino derailed at Graygrigg, claiming the life of one passenger.

"The railway today is almost unrecognisable since the days of Railtrack and the Potters Bar tragedy of 2002," said Network Rail.

The government has ruled out a joint public inquiry into Potters Bar and the Graygrigg crash, saying public interest would be "best served" with separate independent inquests into the disasters. The ORR declined to comment.