THE recent terrible train disaster at Paddington was an accident which had been waiting to happen for at least 11 years and came despite the tragic warning at Southall two years ago.

Following the 1988 Clapham disaster, Cecil Parkinson promised that its recommendations would be carried out within three months. Eleven years later we still have John Prescott talking about the inferior system of TPW because it is so much cheaper than Automatic Train Protection (ATP).

All the other European railways have installed ATP - which would not "take 10 years to install". Even if that were true then it might have been in place before these lives were taken away to save money.

It is a remarkable obscenity that when it comes to protecting our health, education and even our lives, the cash register comes out but when it comes to money to resource wars or weapons of mass destruction, there is a bottomless bucket.

This Government has a responsibility to ensure that the safest possible transport system is operated. To do that it needs to be taken back into public ownership with a commitment to spend whatever it takes.

J. HOMEWOOD,

Carr Avenue,

Prestwich.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.