'GRAYRIGG would probably not have happened if a public inquiry had been held'. That is the message from Anne Smith, whose mother Agnes Quinlivan was one of seven people killed following the Potters Bar derailment on May 10, 2002. Mrs Smith was speaking to

GRAYRIGG would probably not have happened if a public inquiry had been held".

That is the message from Anne Smith, whose mother Agnes Quinlivan was one of seven people killed following the Potters Bar derailment on May 10, 2002.

Mrs Smith was speaking to the Potters Bar Edition following last week's article, in which Hertsmere MP James Clappison urged Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to announce a "long overdue" public examination of the tragedy.

She said: "The delay is not fair and it is compounding the distress that my family and I feel.

"The inconclusive police and HSE (Health and Safety Executive) inquiries have not brought anybody to account for the crash."

She added: "There should have been a public inquiry from the outset.

"I was told at the outset that the police and HSE inquiries would be quicker than a public inquiry, but in fact nearly seven years on there is no resolution."

Renewed calls for a public review of the Potters Bar disaster surfaced in October, following the publication of a report into the fatal Grayrigg derailment in Cumbria in February 2007.

And Mrs Smith, who lives in Stevenage, strongly supports this approach to resolving the matter.

"A joint public inquiry for Potters Bar and Grayrigg should be held," she said.

"This should find the cause of the crash and ensure that such crashes do not occur again."

According to the Department for Transport, Mr Hoon is expected to make a decision on the way forward "very shortly".