A faulty set of rail points is the most likely cause of last week's British train disaster near London which left seven people dead, a preliminary report by crash investigators found today.
The report by the British government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said there was no evidence to suggest that driver error, signal failure or vandalism were to blame for Friday's accident in which a high-speed passenger train crashed into Potters Bar station, just north of London.
The crash - the fifth fatal train accident in as many years in Britain - also injured over 70 people.
The report said a fault in the points - which allow a train to change tracks - had caused one of the train's carriages to derail as it passed over, sending it crashing into the platform.
It said four locking nuts were missing from bolts in the points system and were found under the rail.
Transport Secretary Mr Stephen Byers, who has described the accident as a one-off, told parliament yesterday that a lack of repair or vandalism had caused the nuts to become detached.
Jarvis Plc, the British contractor that maintains the track at the crash site, said the points in question had been checked on May 1st and again the day before last Friday's crash and had met safety standards.