Potter Bar: 20 Years On: A Personal Reflection

 

This week sees the 20^th anniversary of the Potters Bar Train Crash of 2002.

It was caused by poor maintenance. It was caused by corporate failings.  Seven people were killed and over 70 hurt.  Like all such incidents the anniversary will be a painful day for many.  I am pleased to see that a local church will be holding a service to commemorate the event.

There were a string of major railway accidents in the late 90s and early 00s.  Southall, Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield and Ufton Nervet spring to mind, although there were several others.  I had a small role at many of these events,  the experience of which has left me with a tiny insight into the enormity of bereavement by sudden disaster and an acute awareness of the impact of such events on responders. 

I had a minor role in the response to Potters Bar.  I dealt with the media and in the days following I hosted the bereaved as Family Liaison Officers brought them to the scene.  I explained to them what had happened and how the scene was being managed.  I briefed them about the course of the early investigation.  The two jobs didn’t really mix well.  I was very lucky.  I had experience of similar incidents and I had been well trained and regularly exercised. I worked for, and with, experienced colleagues. Training and exercising are never a wasted investment.

Every major incident carries with it very clear memories and at Potters Bar the image of the carriage wedged sideways across two platforms is etched into the memories of all who attended.  How could his happen?  was a questioning echoing around many a brain.

 My other memories include:

·       The response of the local community who rallied around with a simple question:  “what can we do to help?”

·       The tremendous work done by the Family Liaison Officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary and BTP.

·       The collegiate feel amongst the responding agencies.  This was long pre-JESIP but the almost instinctive willingness of agencies to work together was a great example of how things should happen.

·       The excellent welfare arrangements.  The Force Welfare Officer, who was hugely experienced,  told me something that I have always borne in mind since: “ people doing horrible things should be well looked after – and they should feel they are well looked after”  “This requires the attention of those in command – policies and contracts take you only so far.”

·       The beauty of the Buddhist ceremony held on site and the efforts to acquire lotus flowers.

·       The sheer professionalism of teams used to dealing with disaster, in specialisms such as scientific support, search and command and control.

·       The dedication of the railway responders who knew exactly what needed to be done to keep people safe on site and to develop engineering plans for recovery. 

The crash threw up many lessons and validated many more learnt from previous incidents:

·       The importance of agencies working together

·       Remembering that at the heart of everything that is done by professional and voluntary responders are the needs of those touched by the incident, whether through bereavement, injury or other trauma.

·       Understanding that events like this are not over on the first day.  The scene will be active for a long time (at least a week) and the process of investigation and inquiry will take years. 

·       There are always strategic issues at play.  At Potters Bar these included international relations (and therefore the involvement of the FCDO), the structure and oversight of the railways, the economic and social effects of a long term closure of the east coast mainline, the long term effects on responders, and many others.

·       The complexity of the investigation.  The knowledge that the police are only one investigating agency, others have a legal and legitimate role as well. 

·       That corporations sometimes try to divert attention, or default to the hope that blame lies somewhere else.  The claims by some in the railway industry that the accident had been caused by sabotage was neither credible nor helpful, but did take up a lot of effort.  Similar claims had dogged the investigation into the King’s Cross Fire fifteen years before.

·       Justice is rarely swift.  It was not until 2011 that Network Rail were convicted of Health and Safety Offences in connection with Potters Bar.  They were fined £3M.

·       Corporations can be victims, witnesses, responders and suspects, all at the same time.  This requires a thoughtful and grown up approach.

·       The process of welcoming the bereaved to the site of a major incident was something that was still new in 2002.  It had been developed in the aftermath of the Ladbroke Grove Crash in 1999.  Without doubt a transparent approach to the bereaved and ensuring that they are properly supported is a good thing.  But incident commanders need to bear in mind the affect on responders.  The reality of seeing people struck with overwhelming grief challenges the professional detachment that is necessary in the discharge of evidence collection and protection tasks.

·       Planning for recovery needs to start very early on.  This includes engagement with stakeholders.

·       The needs of local communities must be taken into account.  I remember being impressed by the approach of the Hertfordshire Constabulary in managing the areas beyond the cordon.  In deciding the siting of cordons and entry points the impact on local businesses and residents is a crucial factor.

·       Command meetings, at all levels, need a set of skills which are slightly different to more routine business.  Strict discipline around the size and duration of meetings is key.  I have seen good, and not so good, examples of this in my career.  It was well handled in the meetings I attended at Potters Bar.

·       Training and exercising are never a wasted investment (yes I know that I am repeating myself here).

Most the above points are pretty obvious, even mundane.  But I have seen them played out in incidents around the country.  In my current work I quite often encounter what I describe as the ‘tyranny of the present’. This is an approach which dismisses any learning from an event that took place longer than five years ago.  At its worst this view condemns us to starting each incident from a near zero position.  It is not surprising that the academic literature is full of examples of unlearned lessons.  I overstate the issue of course but I really don’t think that in civil protection we have the same respect for what has gone before as those in the armed forces who are trained to accept learning from any source, so long as it is still relevant.

Five years after Potters Bar I stood at the site of the fatal derailment at Grayrigg in Cumbria and on being told that the cause was probably related to poor maintenance of a set of points my thoughts returned to 2002.  Network Rail was later fined around £4M for that crime.

Primarily anniversaries are a time for respectful remembrance of those who lost their lives.  In the case of accidents like Potters Bar the victims were ordinary people going about their normal business when unnecessary tragedy struck.     One cannot be involved in emergency management without reflecting on the nature of our mortality.

Anniversaries can also have an operational application.  They provide an opportunity for organisations to stop and think.  They provide a cue for checking that relevant lessons from past events have not been forgotten.  Good organisations do this as a matter of routine and others might like to give the idea some consideration.

I will mark the 20^th anniversary of Potters Bar in the same way as I do all the major incidents I have been involved in.  I will find a quiet moment to remember those touched by the event.  I will give thanks for the people who work to make our transport systems safer and for the emergency services that strive to provide the best possible response when disaster strikes.