Passenger 'called to hurt mother'

Margaret Masson died after a train derailed on the West Coast Main Line near the village of Grayrigg in Cumbria in 2007
12 April 2012

A woman called out "Mum! Mum! Mum!" as her mother lay fatally injured in the Grayrigg train crash, an inquest has heard.

Margaret Langley lay injured next to her 84-year-old mother in the wrecked train carriage which careered off the rails at 95mph, turning 190 degrees as it slid down an embankment.

Margaret Masson died from her injuries hours after the Virgin Pendolino London to Glasgow express train derailed on the West Coast Main Line near the remote village of Grayrigg at 8.12pm on February 23 2007.

All eight carriages of the Class 390 tilting train were derailed and 86 passengers and two crew of the 105 people aboard were injured.

A subsequent Rail Accident Investigation Branch inquiry ruled the "immediate cause" of the crash was that the train had gone over a "degraded and unsafe" set of points, known as Lambrigg 2B.

Mrs Masson, known as Peggy, from Glasgow, got on the train at Preston, Lancashire, accompanied by her daughter Margaret Langley and her husband Richard Langley.

The pensioner had been staying with her daughter and son-in-law for a week and they were accompanying the pensioner back to her home.

They were due to travel the next day but instead decided to catch the Friday night express back to Glasgow, the inquest at the County Offices in Kendal heard.

On the first day of the three-week hearing, where train safety is expected to come under the spotlight, the jury heard a graphic first-hand account of how the crash unfolded.

The train driver, Iain Black, from Dumbarton, who was seriously injured and hailed a hero by Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, is scheduled to give evidence to Ian Smith, HM Coroner for south and east Cumbria, later.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in