Potters Bar: Railtrack have confirmed that an off-duty member of staff reported a "rough ride" travelling through Potters Bar just hours before the fatal rail disaster.

The announcement comes after a BBC report stated Railtrack had inspected the wrong side of track after the rail worker reported a possible fault to their signal control at King's Cross. The report claims Railtrack inspected the Potters Bar track towards London rather than the track going out of the capital.

The Railtrack statement said: "We can confirm that reports of a rough ride in the Potters Bar area were received the night before the accident and acted upon. The investigation is looking at the communication process that took place between all the rail industry staff involved.

"Currently the tapes of the conversations are with the police as part of their investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment while they continue their enquiries."

Last week a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) accident report revealed that poor maintenance by contractor Jarvis was to blame for the May 10 crash. The report concluded that nuts missing from a set of points had caused them to "fail catastrophically" and that 20 per cent of nuts on nearby points were also not fully tightened at the time of the crash.

Seven people died and dozens were injured in the crash when the 12.45 King's Cross to King's Lynn train derailed on its approach to the station with one of the four carriages becoming wedged under the station canopy.

July 11, 2002 17:30