Ladbroke Grove will never be forgotten
By Keith Norman
General Secretary ASLEFPosted 1 May 2007 09:00 | From Railnews print edition, May 2007
www.railnews.co.uk/2007/05/opinions/200705P_op_keith_norman.html I have lived with the memories of the day of the Ladbroke Grove crash for the past seven years. It will always be with me. I was Aslef's regional officer covering the Paddington line at the time, and was asked by then general secretary Mick Rix to deal with the disaster on the union's behalf.
I shall never forget going to the scene of the crash. It was the darkest nightmare a railwayman can have. It is something none of us ever wants to see Ð and there it was in front of my eyes. It is impossible to put into words how deeply I was touched by a sense of helplessness and sadness. It was a train driver's vision of hell.
I spent three of the longest weeks of my life as Aslef's representative at the Cullen inquiry into the crash. Every day I went to Westminster Central Hall as the details of the crash were gone over. Every day I witnessed the despair and anger of the relatives of the dead and saw the awful scars on those who had survived.
One of the worst things was the interminable wait before any action began against those I feel are responsible for the crash.
Even now at the end of the recent case against Network Rail, I feel nothing has been concluded. I still turn over in my mind the fact that there had been warning after warning about SN109, from different drivers on different days over a period of years. And nothing was done.
At the end of the trial, no one has taken responsibility for a series of failures. For the outsider, the events at Blackfriars Crown Court last month marked the end of the case. For the families of the drivers, the dead and the injured it will last a lifetime. For me, Ladbroke Grove will never go away.
I have been spending too long in courts recently. At the same time as the Ladbroke Grove case, I was involved in the repercussions of the Purley rail crash of 1989. As a result of that crash in Surrey, one of our members was imprisoned for four months for manslaughter when he admitted passing a signal at red. In March he was granted the right to appeal against his conviction. This is not the place to go into details of that accident - but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when a driver goes to jail while everyone in the boardroom goes to the club. It is, to my mind, a clear case of double standards and legal injustice.
At least when I think about the Grayrigg derailment, it is possible to find some positive outcomes: our member Iain Black was recognised as having played a first-class professional role and the resilience of the Pendolino train was proven and celebrated.
Delegates at Aslef's conference in Scarborough later this month will share my anger as they discuss reports on these issues. The other major talking point will be the amount of progress on our union's campaign to secure driving cabs that bear some resemblance to the 21st century. Many Aslef members still work in dirty, unsafe, uncomfortable and unhealthy conditions. It is an issue that won't go away - and why should it? The fact is that it can be sorted out relatively quickly and fairly cheaply: if it is not, I expect there to be calls for industrial action. That's what annoys me about this problem: there is an obvious and practical resolution.
It is always fruitful and interesting when members of our profession get together to talk about our industry as we will at our conference. I enjoy the sense of pride in the job we do. I like the sense of family that pervades the job and the union: but we also share our losses and our disappointments. Sadly, they will be high up our agenda this year.
There are things we should not - and will not - forget. Ladbroke Grove is one of them.
Views expressed in our 'guest opinion' column are those of the author and not necessarily shared by Railnews.