Firms Agree Potters Bar Liability

Network Rail and the rail maintenance company Jarvis have accepted legal responsibility for claims brought over the Potters Bar rail crash. In a joint announcement the two firms said accepting liability would provide 'comfort and assistance' to victims of the May 2002 crash.

A Jarvis spokesperson added the move did not mean the firm was to blame for the accident, which killed seven people and injured 76 when a train derailed at Potters Bar station in Hertfordshire in 2002.

The crash was caused by a faulty set of points, operated by Railtrack (now Network Rail), and maintained by engineering firm Jarvis. A Network Rail spokesperson said that the companies "hope that by formalising the liability issue, those affected by the tragedy will gain some level of comfort and assistance."

Bob Crow, general secretary of rail union RMT said:

"This is a nonsense. How can they accept liability without accepting responsibility?"

HSE said a final report into the incident would not be produced until the end of current criminal investigations. Jarvis said at the time that vandalism could have been to blame, but subsequent HSE interim reports found lack of maintenance and not sabotage was to blame.
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