Survivors of the Paddington rail crash have insisted Transport Secretary Stephen Byers lied in Parliament about putting Railtrack into administration - although the government has denied the claims.

Pam Warren, chairwoman of the Paddington Survivors' group at the time, said its members met Mr Byers on 12 September and he let slip his plans to replace Railtrack with a not-for-profit company.

Yet when Mr Byers told Parliament on 7 October that he was winding up Railtrack, he said he did not make the decision until 5 October, having prepared contingency plans on 28 September.

When he made his statement to Parliament that he hadn't pre-planned the Railtrack administration we knew it wasn't true

Pam Warren, Paddington Survivors' Group

The government has dismissed Ms Warren's story, saying the options may have been discussed at the meeting, but no decision was taken.

But Simon Benham, who recently took over as chair of the group from Ms Warren, insisted her account was true.

Mr Benham said: "We are probably one of the few groups the public can trust to tell the truth without profit clouding our comments.

"The general feeling within the group is that the government has let the travelling public down badly.

"Who is the British public more likely to believe - Pam Warren with her track record, or Mr Byers with his?"

Told of announcement

Martin Mimms, a group member, told BBC News he was also sure there had been no mistake.

"The recollection of all of us who were at that meeting was that Mr Byers, who was in a very relaxed and friendly mood, said: 'well, if you keep an eye on about 8 October there should be an announcement that you will find of interest and I think you'll find pleasing'.

"They may not be his exact words, but they are very close, as I recall."

Who is the British public more likely to believe - Pam Warren with her track record, or Mr Byers with his?

Simon Benham, Paddington Survivors' Group

The row comes amid news of further police investigations into the management of signalling at the time of the 1999 crash, in which 31 people died.

Ms Warren told the Daily Mail she and two other group members were at the 12 September meeting with Mr Byers and his private secretary, David Hill.

She said Mr Byers was "chuckling and grinning" as he told the meeting to watch out for an announcement on about 8 October which "would be extremely pleasing to them".

Damaging

"When he made his statement to Parliament that he hadn't pre-planned the Railtrack administration we knew it wasn't true," she said.

These options may have been mentioned, but... no decision had been taken

Department of Transport

She said the group had agonised over whether to go public.

"We had to keep quiet back then because we thought we were going to get a better railway system.

"So little has changed to rail safety, and Lord Cullen's report into the Paddington crash has been ignored so far, that we felt we had little option but to let the general public know what was going on."

A spokeswoman at the Transport Department said: "These options may have been mentioned, but, we stress, no decision had been taken.

"We are not going into who said what to whom and what the members may have interpreted that to mean."

Pam Warren: Remembers Byers "chuckling"

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We simply disagree with her account... it's always possible for people to have different accounts of meetings."

Shadow transport secretary Theresa May described the group's claims as "a bombshell".

She said: "This is a pretty damaging testimony which makes Mr Byers' position untenable. I cannot see how he can continue."