Ertblog

Norton Fitzwarren: lightning can strike twice

Some places evoke memories of tragedy. We remember Hungerford for the 1987 massacre, and Aberfan for the 1966 disaster. 

On Britain's railways, the small village of Norton Fitzwarren near Taunton has similar associations. The Great Western Railway's mainline to the west runs through the village. The GWR had the proudest safety record in Britain, and went 50 years from 1890 to 1940 without a serious accident - an extraordinary achievement, reflecting the GWR's tireless efforts to prevent accidents. Yet the two disasters bracketing that period both happened at Norton Fitzwarren. 

The 1940 Norton Fitzwarren disaster struck 70 years ago today, during the darkest days of the war. It's hard to imagine a set of circumstances more likely to cause a disaster than those of 3 November 1940. The night was wet and windy. Train driver Percy Stacey had recently been bombed out of his home in London as the capital endured continual night bombing. Driver Stacey and fireman Seabridge took over express locomotive King George VI at 8.25pm on that wet and windy wartime night, to work the 9.50pm express from Paddington to Penzance. They were due to work it as far as Plymouth.

The train was already running over an hour late when it arrived at Taunton at 3.30am, as a result of an air raid on Bristol, which held the train in the city for more than an hour. We can barely imagine the impact this would have had on driver Stacey, who had lost his home in an air raid in London just days earlier. But he pressed on.

The stage was set for tragedy. Stacey would have expected his train to have a clear run on the main line. But because of the delays, the signalman at Taunton decided to let a newspaper train run non stop on the main line, leaving Stacey's train to continue on the relief line, which ended at Norton Fitzwarren. Stacey mistook the green lights of the main line signals for those applying to his train. As Stacey's train approached the end of the relief line, the newspaper train overtook it on the main line. Disaster was inevitable. 

At 3.48am on that dark November morning, the 89 ton King Edward VI jumped over a ditch and fell on its side. The overtaking newspaper train was showered with ballast thrown up by the crashing train. Tragically, fireman Seabridge and 26 passengers were killed. 

Driver Stacey escaped from the wreckage and struggled through the icy waters of the neighbouring flooded field to raise the alarm. Can you imagine how he must have felt? He would have been desperately tired, cold and wet. He'd have wondered whether his family was safe after another night's bombing. But more immediately, he'd have been shocked to the core by the fact his train had been wrecked, leaving him wondering what he had done. 

The irony of the disaster was that the GRW's pioneering safety measures should have prevented it. Over 30 years earlier, the company had invented 'automatic train control' (ATC), which automatically applied the brakes if a driver missed a 'distant' warning signal. The driver retained the ability to dismiss the ATC warning and the resulting brake application. At Norton Fitzwarren, driver Stacey did just that, which meant the ATC could not prevent tragedy. 

Norton Fitzwarren 1940 was a rare blot on the GWR's safety copybook in extraordinary circumstances. For 50 years, countless reports on railway disasters urged companies to follow the GWR's example and adopt ATC. It took the 1952 Harrow and Wealdstone catastrophe in which 112 people died before British Railways adopted a national ATC system, called AWS. But the GWR system survived until the early 1980s on parts of the old railway's network. The Great Western wasn't perfect, but its commitment to safety remains one of its greatest, proudest legacies. 

You can read the official Ministry of Transport inquiry report into the 1940 disaster by Lieutenant Colonel Mount here. I also recommend AR Kingdom's excellent account in The Railway Accident at Norton Fitzwarren, 1940, by ARK Publications (ISBN 1 873029 10 1).

 

The judges, united, will never be defeated! A new look at the BA strike

You know a company has screwed up when Norman Tebbit expresses sympathy for the union in a bitter dispute. That's what happened today in the acrimonious battle between British Airways and Unite.

Tebbit was the architect of Margaret Thatcher's most far-reaching controls on Britain's trade unions. (I was studying Tebbit's 1982 union legislation the night I heard that Tebbit and his wife had been injured in the 1984 IRA Brighton bombing.) Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Breakfast show today, Tebbit disagreed with BA's attempt to get the courts to ban the latest strike on a technicality. He doubted that BA's famous 1980s chairman Lord King would have enraged the cabin crew in the way Willie Walsh has. 

He was speaking after the Court of Appeal overturned Monday's High Court injunction halting the strike. 

The High Court judgment appeared to threaten the very idea of trade unions. The judge agreed to an injunction because the union allegedly didn't do enough to tell its members there were 11 spoilt ballot papers. This was insanity. I voted in the 2010 general election. No one has told me how many election ballot papers were spoilt. It simply doesn't matter. The same principle should apply to strike ballots. 

The Thatcher union reforms were a popular attempt to make prevent unions from bullying their members to go on strike. Those reforms worked well in this dispute. Over 80% of BA cabin crew voted fairly and democratically in favour of strike action. I think the BA cabin crew have made a terrible mistake. I'm less likely to fly BA as a result of their contempt for the travelling public. But it's not the courts' role to save workers and management from their own stupidity.

Sensible but sneaky: Buckinghamshire's new speed limits

Driving Owen to nursery yesterday, I noticed a tiny '40' speed limit sign on Longbottom Lane between Seer Green and Beaconsfield. Strange, I thought, I wasn't aware a 40mph limit had been applied to this rural road. But the return journey confirmed that Bucks County Council had done just that. And I noticed that the same 40 signs between Seer Green and Chalfont St Giles. 

I agree with the lower speed limits. These roads are narrow and twisting, making 60 too fast for the conditions. It will make life easier and safer for cyclists and horseriders. But I wasn't impressed by the fact the council hadn't put up the usual large signs telling drivers that the speed limit had changed. Even worse, they've removed the 30 limit sign as you enter Seer Green from Chalfont St Giles, which means that many drivers will enter the village at 40, not 30mph. 

No wonder drivers think they're being victimised - this kind of sneaky action creates the suspicion that Bucks County Council is trying to trap drivers into speeding fines. I doubt they're that clever. This and my previous posts this week about the Narcot Lane cycle route and Amersham's closed zebra crossing suggest they're just incompetent.

PS: my wife Karen tells me that the new speed limits have been widely covered in our local paper. I don't think that lets the council off the hook. Most people don't read the Bucks Advertiser - including me. They certainly don't read the council's website on the off-chance that it might be about to change the speed limits of their local roads. Bucks County Council put up large signs when they changed the speed limit from 40 to 30 on Stanley Hill and London Road West in Amersham a few years ago. It should have done the same now. 

'Crossing not in use' - why do pedestrians get such a raw deal?

'Crossing not in use' said the sign. But Buckinghamshire County Council didn't bother to explain how pedestrians were supposed to cross this busy road in Amersham. Like most people, I took my life in my hands and crossed anyway. I witnessed a pensioner getting a blast on the horn from a selfish and thoughtless driver. 

It made me angry. Why does Bucks County Council think drivers are so much more important than pedestrians? Woodside Road had temporary traffic lights for weeks, but they had been removed some time ago. But in any case, why should a council have any right to treat walkers and pushchair pushers as second class citizens? It's time our councillors used their feet rather than their cars. They'd soon come to their senses. 

 

Chalfont cycle route: Narcot Lane scheme gets 6 out of 10

I've long been a fan of well planned and built cycle routes. So I was pleased to see that Buckinghamshire County Council was building a cycle route from our village of Chalfont St Giles to the leisure centre and community college in the next village of Chalfont St Peter. 

I cycled the route yesterday with our 22 month old toddler Owen in his seat on the back of my Raleigh Randonneur touring bike. It was an enjoyable ride on the smooth new path - a contrast with the horribly potholed road alongside. It makes a change for a cycle path to be quicker than the main road in shadows!

But sadly the project has some flaws. Oddly, it starts some distance along Narcot Lane, which means that anyone starting at the St Giles end has to use the road, or break the law by cycling on the pavement - despite the ample width available. The route was officially opened 10 days ago, according to the Bucks Free Press, but the two road crossings are unmarked and incomplete. Just as seriously, there are no signs to explain that this is a shared footpath and cycle route. My parents-in-law, who live on the route, report that one of their neighbours was roundly abused by a cyclist for daring to set foot on the path with her dog, impeding his progress. A simple sign would have put this foul mouthed fool in his place. Finally, as the photo above shows, part of the old pavement was too narrow to convert into a cycle route. It would have been sensible for the council to narrow the road at this point to calm traffic as it enters Chalfont St Giles, which would have given room for the cycle route. Instead, cyclists are currently forced to negotiate a strip of concrete barely a foot in width, as a utility company has dug up the pavement. 

But these are niggles. The government should invest heavily in such facilities, despite the coming cuts. Encouraging cycling will pay ample dividends in future years in a healthier nation and less crowded roads. 

Owen takes the 1962 train to Harrow

"Why don't you take Owen for a train ride?" suggested Karen. Owen loves trains, so it was a great idea for a Sunday morning outing.

We set off from Amersham, the country end of London Underground's Metropolitan line. The train was older than me: it dated from 1962, the year of the Cuban missile crisis, when Harold Macmillan was Britain's prime minister and JFK America's president. It's some consolation to know I'm still younger than some London tube trains, even if I'm older than David Cameron, the man who's most likely be Britain's next prime minister in the coming days!

Not a plane in sight: five days under clear blue skies

For five days, Britain enjoyed surreally clear blue skies as the sun shone and aircraft were banished from the skies by the ash cloud from Iceland's volcano.

Motorway signs warned: "Heathrow Airport closed". Towns and villages for miles around Britain's busiest airport discovered tranquility and birdsong. And a clear sky was made even more radiant by the lack of aircraft vapour trails.

But the five day respite from the skies came at a price for travellers. The flying ban left hundreds of thousands stranded around the world.

It also changed my idea of news. On Tuesday evening, 'plane lands at Heathrow' was the dominant story on news bulletins. Reporters thronged the terminal to talk to passengers as if they were celebrities. Meanwhile, the media demanded the Government 'do something' - though they weren't sure what.

Opportunistic politicians such as the Conservatives' Theresa May criticised the Government and the aviation authorities for closing our skies. But you can imagine what they'd have said if our airspace hadn't been closed and an aircraft had been lost as a result.

Hounslow, Isleworth and Richmond are now getting used to having the planes back. Here's a time delay image of jets heading for Heathrow over Richmond Green one evening in 1990.

 

Eyjafjallajökull volcano chaos reveals crazy world of UK travel insurance

Eyjafjallajökull. It's a name few newsreaders have attempted to pronounce. But there's no doubting the chaos this Icelandic volcano has caused, as its ash cloud forces a prolonged shut down of our airline network. It's also shown that travel insurance doesn't guarantee you won't be heavily out of pocket when things go wrong. 

The insurance industry sells peace of mind. But thousands of travellers have found their travel policy has instead given them a large financial headache. There's no standard British travel insurance policy. This means that some people are covered for the costs they've had to meet after being stranded by the ash cloud - but others aren't. And some insurance providers, such as HSBC, have decided to make goodwill payments, despite not covering natural disasters.

A lot of commentators have said insurance doesn't cover 'acts of God'. This is an urban myth, as the Association of British Insurance has confirmed. Insurers are agnostic about the existence of a greater being. They insure the consequences of a host of natural events that believers might call acts of God. The problem is that modern insurance policies tend to set out what is specifically covered. If your misfortune isn't on the list, you're on your own.

The other problem is that most travel policies were designed when we all took package holidays. If you're one of the millions who book your flights, hotels and car hire separately, you need to make sure your policy covers the indirect costs, such as hotel bills, if your airline can't run the flights you've booked. Many traditional policies cover delayed departures but not the consequential expenses you incur when your flight is cancelled. This is where the newer policies designed for independent travellers, such as M&S's, come into their own. They may cost more, but the extra few pounds buy that fabled peace of mind.

Disclosure: I was head of PR for M&S Money 2005 to 2008

Why I won't object to high speed rail line through Chalfont St Giles

Above: the last mainline built through the Chilterns

The government announced plans yesterday for a new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham – via our village, Chalfont St Giles.

The news has, inevitably, led to an outcry. The Chilterns Conservation Board said it would cause irreversible damage. This highly prosperous area is sure to campaign fiercely against the new line.

I won’t be objecting. Partly because the line will pass Chalfont St Giles in a tunnel, which will minimise the impact on the village once construction is complete. But mainly because I feel strongly that it’s hypocritical to benefit from motorways, rail line and airports but object violently when someone plans one in your own area.

And I don’t accept the idea that rail lines – even high speed ones – blight the countryside. There’s something special about the sight of a train snaking its way through the countryside. The west coast main line didn’t ruin the Lune Gorge in the north of England; the later, parallel M6 did.

As the photo at the top of this post shows, railway lines already cross the Chilterns. This photo shows the Great Western and Great Central joint line being built at Loudwater near High Wycombe at the turn of the last century. The scars of construction are long gone; the railway is now part of the landscape. As the photo below of the same line near Ashendon shows, the railway merges into landscape.

As a boy, I loved lying in bed at night listening to coal trains making their way along the Rhymney valley line in Cardiff. It seemed the most natural thing in the world.

But will it happen?

It may not need a campaign to stop a high speed line through Chalfont St Giles. A Tory victory at the general election is likely to scupper the plans, and although the Tories say they’ll push a similar scheme, it will probably be for a different route. 

The new age of the train? Britain flirts with high speed rail

At last, Britain's main political parties agree on something: we need to build high speed rail lines. Andrew Adonis, Labour's transport secretary, has unveiled plans for new railway lines, just months after the Conservatives said they would scrap plans for a third runway at Heathrow in favour of high speed rail.

I'm warming to Adonis. He's talked more sense in his first two months than all New Labour's previous transport bosses put together. Cardiff will see its first electric trains thanks to his decision to electrify the Great Western main line to South Wales. (But before we get carried away, the new electric journey times will be slower than the best achieved by the current high speed diesels over 20 years ago.)

The channel tunnel rail link has shown the benefits of high speed rail. We've seen a big switch of London to Paris and Brussels air traffic to Eurostar. Let's hope the new political consensus means we see faster progress than the 20 year project to build the 67 mile line to the channel tunnel.

PS: the photo below shows an InterCity 125 high speed train on the Great Western line near Wootton Bassett in early 1978. These trains are still in front line service 31 years later - but rather slower than in British Railways days.