Safety concerns over Network Rail strike action
Published Date:
26 July 2008
By Stephen Briggs
Network Rail has been accused of putting the public at risk by planning to leave vans loaded with dangerous materials parked on roads this weekend.
The RMT transport union claims at least 10 vans containing a highly explosive combination of compressed gasses and quantities of petrol, oil and railway detonators will be left on public roads, possibly in the Peterborough and Huntingdon areas.
The claims were dismissed as “ridiculous” by Network Rail.
The vehicles, which are also believed to have been stripped of the key safety notices that tell the emergency services and other road users about the nature of their contents, would normally be parked in secure compounds which will be picketed during a weekend strike, the RMT said.
But a Network Rail spokesman denied there was not risk to public safety, and said: “Safety is, and will always be, at the forefront of everything we do and today’s comments by the RMT are clearly ridiculous.
“The RMT’s claims are fiction.”
The full article contains 171 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
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Last Updated:
25 July 2008 6:07 PM
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Source:
Peterborough ET
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Location:
Peterborough
