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Prison labour on rail line sparks fears for safety

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Published Date: 13 May 2007
By NICHOLAS CHRISTIAN
CONVICTED prisoners are working as labourers on the West Coast mainline between England and Scotland, justice officials admitted last night.
Around 100 prisoners have worked on the line in the past year, although only seven inmates are currently involved.

The prison service in England said the work was part of the training for freedom programmes normally undertaken by inmates before their release.

It added that rigorous risk assessment was carried out before work started.

Network Rail said prisoners were not involved in attaching nuts and bolts to lines or any safety critical work.

But the revelation led to a storm of criticism last night. It was on the West Coast main line near Grayrigg, Cumbria, that a Virgin express train derailed three months ago, killing 84-year-old Scottish grandmother Margaret "Peggy" Masson and seriously injuring the driver.

The workers, all volunteers, receive the national minimum of £53.50 for ten hours.



The full article contains 161 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 12 May 2007 11:10 PM
  • Source: Scotland On Sunday
  • Location: Scotland
  • Related Topics: Scottish prisons
 
1

Beggar Believes,

13/05/2007 08:21:41

Only storm of criticism from this corner is that they got paid for it.

2

lisa,

perth 13/05/2007 08:57:56

What the public sector knows about risk management can be written on a pinhead in big bold type,

3

Keke,

Aberdeenshire 13/05/2007 09:26:27

Maybe it's the start of a reversed situation, send the useless jokers who skimp on repair practices and cause rail accidents to prison, and staff the P-Way gangs with prisoners.
Now ... where's my car keys?

4

Jeeemy,

13/05/2007 10:21:21

Come on you lot that train accident at Grayrigg, Cumbria, that a Virgin express train derailed three months ago, was down to two things.
Firstly the body called Network Rail and its predecessor had a design failure when the West Coast mainline was opened to high-speed running these facing points should have been removed or replaced by trailing points if they were required for maintenance.
Two Facing points require a running speed of 30 miles per hour not 125 mph.

Tie rods back in the days of old had 16 components then we had the latest design increasing to 32 components, now in order to cut maintenance costs once more the next design has increased this to even more components.
Talk about accidents waiting to happen,

5

MURCHADH MACLEÒID,

Dun-éideann 13/05/2007 14:03:55

#1 Dragonhead.
Are you a PSB agent?
Your opinions would offend General Pinochet,Pol Pot and even probably Margeret Thatcher.

6

BW2,

Everywhere 13/05/2007 15:12:42

#1 Drogonhead

Another thought for Prisoners work, After a recent visit to a graveyard in Glasgow the idea of using prisoners to repair all the old stones crossed my mind.
Some only need lifted and re-cemented with new foundations But what a great service this would be, Maybe they could even clean them as well.

http://sccrcunjustdecisions.myfastforum.org/

7

ElmoGal,

14/05/2007 09:43:34

Why should they get paid to do it? They are in prison for committing crime.


 

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