London - Senior managers at Great Western Trains were yesterday severely rebuked for a "catalogue of errors" leading up to the Southall rail crash. Counsel for the inquiry, Mr Ian Burnett QC, said it was wrong to focus entirely on the failings of the driver, Larry Harrison, in the events that led up to the crash.
"Although as we have submitted in writing, Mr Harrison bears a heavy responsibility for the Southall accident, it would be wrong to concentrate on the failings of the driver when there is compelling evidence of serious systemic failings within Great Western Trains, his employers," he said.
Mr Burnett was speaking on the closing day of the inquiry into the crash in which a high speed train operated by GWT from Swansea to Paddington went through a red signal in Southall, west London, in September, 1997, colliding with an empty freight train. Seven passengers died and 150 were injured in the accident.