Road transport

MEMBERS FREEPHONE HELPLINE Open six days a week 8am until 6pm 0800 376 3706 e-mail: info@rmt.org.uk Legal helpline: 0800 587 7516 Seven days a week RMT MEMBER Paul Taylor won prizes for his work as an on-board chef with GNER. On a terrible day in February 2001 he was one of ten people killed, with dozens more injured, when his train was derailed by a Landrover that crashed onto the line when driver Gary Hart fell asleep at the wheel. With RMT’s backing, Paul’s widow Lee Taylor won six figure damages in a settlement negotiated by Kevin Hughes of RMT solicitors Bridge McFarland on her behalf. This sum could never compensate Lee and her family for their tragic loss but it did reflect the loss of her husband’s salary with a small sum, set by Act of Parliament, to mark Lee’s bereavement. In the meantime, GNER had settled their own claim against Mr Hart’s insurers for many millions. It reflected the damage to their rolling stock and their loss of revenue. But they also included, almost as a footnote, a claim for repayment of £17,500 that GNER had paid to Lee Taylor as their employee’s widow under an agreement dating back to 1986, which guarantees payments to the families of workers killed in railway accidents. However, Hart’s insurers argued that since they had repaid the money paid by GNER they should be entitled to deduct it from Lee’s damages. RMT rejected this argument and instructed Bridge McFarland to sue for the money the insurers had deducted. Eventually, this issue went to trial at Leeds County Court. This could not have happened without RMT’s financial backing. The legal arguments involved were complex and took a day to thrash out in court proceedings. Mr Hart’s insurers had the assets of a multi-billion pound industry behind them but Lee Taylor had her husband’s union. The judge declined to give his decision on the day but following several weeks of nerve racking uncertainty he handed down his judgement in Lee’s favour. The reasons given by the judge in finding in Lee’s favour run into many pages but the position can be summed up very simply: you cannot give with one hand, and take back with the other. l Gary Hart was convicted of causing death by reckless driving and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He was released after serving half of his sentence. RMT News – Essential reading for today ’s transport worker A ROW has broken out between rail privateer First Keolis and public transport chiefs over cuts to Transpennine Express services. Metro, the West Yorkshire passenger transport executive, was told by train operator First Keolis that the cuts were due solely to leaf fall. But First now admits the cuts also relate to a dispute with train drivers. A Metro spokesman said it was “annoyed” that First did not mention the dispute when it announced the cuts and said that the passenger group was “caught in the middle”. Timetable changes have seen trains cut to three an hour between Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly instead of the usual four. Services between York and Middlesbrough and York and Newcastle and between Sheffield, Doncaster and Cleethorpes are also reduced. The service cuts will be reviewed in the near future. The passenger group said: “Metro is unhappy with this situation as a whole and with the very short notice that the travelling public has been given over these timetable changes and would urge all parties to resolve the issue and resume full services.” 5 RMT wins court battle for Selby train crash widow Transpennine cuts row NEW HIGH-speed trains for the Kent franchise and rolling stock for the Northern Rail franchise should be built in Britain, RMT has told the government. Transport secretary Alistair Darling has selected Hitachi as the preferred bidder for a £200 million contract to build 30 high-speed trains for Kent’s rush-hour routes from 2009. RMT general secretary Bob Crow welcomed new investment in new rolling stock, but said that there is no reason why these trains should not be built here in Britain. He also pointed out that France and Germany had never bought foreign-built trains for their domestic rail industries. “Here is a golden opportunity to revitalise Britain’s train- making industry, which has suffered thousands of layoffs in recent years. “We have the skills, we have the capacity and we have the enthusiasm – what we need is the opportunity. “Much is being made of the Kent high-speed trains being part of Britain’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics - building these trains in Britain would be good for the economy and good for jobs,” he said. The union has written to the Transport Secretary to make the case for the Kent high- speed sets and the new Northern Franchise rolling stock to be built in Britain. Keep train-making skills in Britain WRECK: Police forensic and accident investigators sift through the wreckage of the train Selby rail crash, Great Heck near Selby, Yorkshire. Photo: Mark Pinder