AN inquest into the Potters Bar rail tragedy will start on June 1, the Potters Bar Edition can reveal.

The news emerged following a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday.

The inquest, which will be presided over by Judge Michael Findlay Baker, will be held at the Spirella Ballroom in Letchworth and is expected to last for several weeks.

It will take place a full 12 months after Transport Secretary Lord Adonis announced that an independent inquest would be held into the May 2002 derailment, in which seven people died and 76 were injured.

A spokesman for the Hertfordshire Coroner Service said: “Now we have got a start date we can find a jury.”