Nobody who saw the aftermath of the Grayrigg train derailment will ever forget it.

Almost a decade on, Anglican priest Dr Alan Billings, whose country parish at that time included the remote Cumbrian village where the disaster happened, has recalled his memories of that night.

He was given news of the crash in a 10pm phone call from a friend, and immediately set off for the scene to offer what help he could.

“I'd been at the vicarage in Kendal, a 20 minute drive away,” he said.

“It's a deeply rural place and it was pitch black. I was shocked to heard about it.

"I realised we were talking about a train on the West Coast Main Line and that there could be very serious consequences.

“The track at that point goes past a viaduct.”

As he drove along the narrow country roads on his way to Grayrigg on February 23, 2007, Dr Billings feared a disaster of horrendous proportions.

He arrived at the scene to find the road already packed with emergency vehicles – police, fire and ambulance vehicles.

At the farmhouse near the crash scene, passengers from the crashed Virgin Pendolino were being cared for by emergency crews - and by the couple who lived there.

Slowly, as the situation clarified, Dr Billings began to realise that the derailment had not caused the kind of carnage that you would expect from a train derailment on the country's busiest north-south rail route.

“With the one tragic exception of the lady who died, there was huge relief that more people were not killed or badly injured,” he said.

“There was a lot of anxiety about the extent of people's injuries.

"There were conversations about people who may have been hit on the head and wandered off, but there was no panic. It was completely calm.

“When I got there, I realised it was a bad crash, but it could have been infinitely worse.

"Even then, people were talking about the design of these train carriages, and how there were no sharp edges on which people could hurt themselves.

“The Pendolino looked like a toy train set that had come off the track.”

In the days after the derailment, said Dr Billings, he went about his work as the national media circus crowded into the village; and he saw Virgin boss Richard Branson standing in the field next to the wrecked train, taking questions.

Branson praised both the train – which remained remarkably intact; its driver, and the smooth emergency response.

Dr Billings added: “My recollection is of how brilliant the emergency response was on that night.

"My abiding memory, though, is of how close we came to a much worse disaster; if it had been nearer to the viaduct and had the train come off there.”

Also at Grayrigg in the hours after the crash was senior Cumbrian police officer Jon Rush, who took on the role of briefing the media.

Now retired, the former chief superintendent described the scene that met him as he arrived in Grayrigg at 4am on February 24, 2007, as “surreal.”


Jon Rush “What struck me was the calmness of the situation,” he said.

“There were a lot of people moving around but by that stage all the passengers had gone.

"As for the physical landscape, I'd never seen anything like it.

“I'd travelled that line regularly, and the carriages in that field were the ones I'd have been in.

"I kept asking myself: How on earth has this happened? And how have these carriages not been completely wrecked?

“I just couldn't believe that they were all intact.

"I knew about the one fatality and that was tragic enough, but I kept wondering how people had got out of that? It was a bit surreal and it became more surreal in the morning in the daylight.”

Speaking at the time, the then Cumbrian police superintendent said: “It is a scene of devastation. We were very surprised that there have been so few fatalities.”

As he spoke to the media, Richard Branson said he was distraught to hear about the death of passenger Peggy Masson, 84.


Richard Branson He also praised the Pendolino, saying its sturdy construction had undoubtedly saved lives. Dr Billings is now Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire Police.

Network Rail was fined £4m after it admitted it was at fault for the Grayrigg derailment, which killed one passenger and left 86 others injured, 28 of them seriously.

Margaret Masson, 84, a passenger on the Virgin Pendolino London to Glasgow train, died after the train crashed at 95mph on the West Coast main line near Grayrigg on February 23, 2007.

Network Rail – responsible for track maintenance – admitted a charge under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. An investigation confirmed derailment was caused by poorly maintained points.

Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “On the tenth anniversary of the Grayrigg incident, our thoughts are with the family and friends of Margaret Masson who tragically lost her life and with all those who were injured or affected by what happened.

“Valuable lessons were learned which have contributed to the railway in Britain now being the safest major network in Europe.

"With more than four million people travelling by rail every day, we are committed to maintaining this and continue to prioritise the safety of passengers, our workforce and those who come into contact with the railway above everything else.”