BBC News | UK | Paddington survivor unveils safety campaign

A victim of the Paddington crash has returned to the scene a year on to launch a rail safety campaign.

Pam Warren, 33, still wears a transparent face mask to protect successive skin grafts from horrific burns.

She set up the Paddington Survivors Group in April and believes rail safety is still being compromised.

Mrs Warren was one of 269 people badly injured when a First Great Western express heading for London's Paddington station collided with a Thames Train service leaving the station on 5 October last year.

First anniversary

The crash, at Ladbroke Grove, killed 31 people. This week has been designated as Rail Safety Week to mark the first anniversary of the crash.

On Thursday - the actual anniversary of the crash, a memorial service will be held at Central Hall, Westminster, where an inquiry into the disaster is currently taking place.

Paddington rail crash
She suffered horrific burns in the crash
Mrs Warren unveiled a poster to mark the launch of Rail Safety Week. The mobile advertisement claims passengers' lives are still being put at risk.

A signal passed at danger (SPAD) is believed to be the main cause of the October 1999 accident just outside Paddington station and the Southall rail disaster in 1997 which killed seven people.

The new poster claims 10 trains a week pass a red signal each week. The advertisement has an image of a train coming out of a revolver with the slogan: "Do you feel lucky?"

I am shocked particularly because people who catch the train today are taking exactly the same risks as we did

Pam Warren

Mrs Warren said: "One year on from Ladbroke Grove that devastated so many lives, little or nothing has changed to improve safety on railways.

"Passengers should not have to rely on luck to have a safe rail journey.

"I am shocked particularly because people who catch the train today are taking exactly the same risks as we did.

"They have reduced the speed that trains travel at that particular signal but it is only a matter of time before drivers speed up and another disaster happens."

New legislation The poster was positioned yards away from the crash site.

The survivors group is campaigning for the government to introduce an automatic train protection system (ATP) which would take the pressure off relying on drivers to make split-second decisions on busy tracks.

Paddington crash
The anniversary of the crash is this week
The group is closely following the inquiry into the crash and has vowed to push Lord Cullen's recommendations to form new legislation.

The campaigners plan to talk to passengers at Paddington station and will take the poster to Reading, Swindon and Cheltenham, stations which the doomed Great Western passed through before the crash.

Commuter are being asked to sign a petition for greater rail safety which will be delivered to Downing Street at the end of the week.

A minute's silence will also be respected at 0811BST on Thursday at a number of stations.


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