Hatfield bosses appear in court
Six rail bosses have appeared in court charged with manslaughter over the Hatfield rail crash.
The men, employees of former track operator Railtrack and maintenance firm Balfour Beatty, were charged last week with gross negligence manslaughter and an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
They could face life imprisonment if found guilty of the charges against them.
Six other men, including former Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett, appeared in court charged with an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The 12 men appeared this morning briefly at Central Hertfordshire Magistrates’ Court, St Albans, to confirm their names.
The two companies Network Rail and Balfour Beatty were also summonsed to the court on manslaughter charges. The firms could face unlimited fines if convicted. Both companies have pledged to fight the manslaughter charges.
Four people died on October 17th, 2000 when a GNER express train derailed half a mile south of Hatfield station in Hertfordshire.
Steve Arthur, 46, from Pease Pottage, West Sussex, Peter Monkhouse, 50, of Headingley, Leeds, Leslie Gray, 43, of Tuxford, Nottingham; and Robert James Alcorn, 37, of Auckland, New Zealand, were all killed in the crash, which was caused by a broken rail.
The 12 men’s names have all been made public by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Hatfield disaster led to a nationwide track upgrade that severely disrupted the rail system and cost millions to complete.
