A survivor of the Paddington rail crash is suing a train company for more than �100,000 after he suffered psychological and physical injuries during the 1999 disaster.

Keith Stiles, 50, from Reading, suffered 60% burns to his body and doctors expected him to become the 32nd victim of the crash.

He is suing Thames Trains after the injuries forced him to retire from his executive post for London Underground.

He was also left with psychological problems including flashbacks, phobia of train travel and depression.

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Mr Stiles has undergone at lease 30 operations which have also forced him to stop working on weekends as a talent scout for Chelsea Football Club.

Thirty-one people died and 500 were injured when a Thames train went through a red light and collided with a Great Western express at Ladbroke Grove, just outside Paddington, west London, on 5 October 1999.

A spokesman for Thames Trains said they could not comment on the impending action.

An inquiry into the disaster by Lord Cullen placed much of the blame for the crash on Thames Trains and Railtrack.