A VICTIM of a railway catastrophe, in which a mail train collided with a derailed freight train, has taken his fight for compensation to the High Court.
Daniel Lawler, of Wirral, was travelling on a Post Office train when it hit a stricken freight train which was carrying a load of carbon dioxide, on March 8, 1996.
On board the Birmingham to Glasgow train were 18 men, all postal workers, one of whom died instantly when the trains collided and sent up a 50ft plume of choking gas. All the survivors were physically injured and left suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
At the High Court in London yesterday, Railtrack plc and Derby-based Engineering Link Ltd, which admitted liability for the accident, agreed to settle seven of the men's cases for damages with payouts totalling £832,000.
Eight of the cases had already been settled before the trial began on Monday.
Mr Lawler, of Bidston Avenue, Wallasey, is among three victims who say they have yet to receive satisfactory settlement offers and are continuing their fight in court.
Gerwyn Samuel, representing the 10 men, told the court the scene of "complete carnage" after the crash would live in the victims' memories for the rest of their lives.
He said every subsequent rail accident - including Selby and Hatfield - had served to "reawaken and exacerbate" the men's nightmares and flashbacks to the crash scene.
There is no dispute that the accident was caused by a fractured axle on the freight train which was pulling 29 wagons loaded with carbon dioxide gas.
The front carriages of the Post Office train had folded on impact and John Thomson, from Glasgow, was crushed between the first two carriages and died instantly.
The speed of the impact, just a short way from Stafford station, had been "closer to 90mph than 60mph," said Mr Samuel.
Wagons loaded with carbon dioxide fractured, sending gas into the air which settled into the railway siding, leaving a blinding white fog stretching for between 100 and 200 yards.
The concentrations of carbon dioxide were so high that victims blacked out from lack of oxygen.
The men had no way of knowing the gas was not poisonous, said Mr Samuel. They were terrified there would be an explosion or that they would be electrocuted by fallen power lines.
The men had "absolutely no warning of the impact" and some of them had been relaxing with cups of tea in their hands at that instant.
Mr Samuel quoted one of the victims, who said: "I will never forget that night for the rest of my life."
Mangled carriages, some of which came to rest within yards of houses, ended up pointing to the sky, presenting a scene of "complete carnage" that nobody who saw it would ever forget, he added.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow for further discussions in relation to the outstanding cases...SUPL:
