Potters Bar crash coroner warns rail carnage could continue

A CORONER warned of more potential carnage on the railways as an inquest jury blamed a points failure for the deaths of seven people at Potters Bar.

There were failures of inspection and/or maintenance of the points in the period before the crash, the jury in Letchworth concluded.

After a seven-week inquest, Judge Michael Findlay Baker QC promised to file a report expressing his concerns.

Six passengers – Austen Kark, Emma Knights, Jonael Schickler, Alexander Ogunwusi, Chia Hsin Lin and Chia Chin Wu – were killed in the crash in Hertfordshire on May 10, 2002. The seventh victim, Agnes Quinlivan, who was walking nearby, died after she was hit by debris.

More than 70 people were injured when the 12.45 King's Cross to King's Lynn train crashed as it reached Potters Bar, where it was not due to stop, at around 1pm.

Family members said the inquest failed to answer key questions surrounding the deaths of their loved ones as the coroner admitted that their eight-year wait for answers was "indefensible".

The coroner said he would file a report under Rule 43 of the 1984 Coroners Rules which allows coroners to express concern that circumstances continue to create a risk of other deaths.