Blair backs Byers on 'Railtrack lie'

DOWNING Street is embroiled in a dispute with a Paddington rail crash victim today over whether Stephen Byers lied to MPs about his decision to put Railtrack into administration.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman defended Byers after Pam Warren, badly burned in the 1999 tragedy, said the Transport Secretary had effectively informed her about his decision to pull the plug on the company on 12 September, almost a month before he told Parliament. Warren says Byers told her that Railtrack 'wouldn't be much trouble for much longer'. Her version clashes with Byers's statement to MPs on 7 October that he had only made up his mind on 5 October.

Downing Stree said that the Government 'simply disagreed' with Warren's version of the meeting between Byers and the Paddington Survivors Group, which she leads.