An Oxford couple are hoping that a new freedom of information law coming into force in the new year will finally help them piece together the mystery of how their son died in a horrific rail accident.

Godfrey and Sissel Fowler

Godfrey and Sissel Fowler have been denied access to a secret report drawn up after the fatal incident at Oxford railway station nine years ago.

On August 1, 1995, Adrian Fowler, 29, was killed when he fell from a train at the station.

The 29-year-old ecologist suffered fatal head injuries while trying to board a moving train on his way to a job interview in Scotland.

There was a rail inquiry into the death which raised questions about procedures on locking doors and the position of conductors instructing drivers to start the train.

But the Fowlers, of Squitchey Lane, north Oxford, were repeatedly told that the report by Thames Trains, widely circulated within the railway industry, could not be released to them.

The Health & Safety Executive also refused to release the report and it was not made available at the inquest. Now the couple hope that the Freedom of Information Act, which comes into force in January, will give them the right to obtain a copy of the document.

Mr Fowler, 73, an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College and a retired professor of general practice at Oxford University, said: "As a practising doctor for over 40 years, I saw that when a patient's close relative died, they wanted to know all the circumstances about the death and I always did everything I could to find out all the information for them.

"It's a basic human need. In order to be able to grieve properly, people need to have access to all the information.

"It seems wrong that there's a report that other people have been allowed to see, but we have not.

"We hope the new Act will help us to get hold of the information, but we're not raising our hopes, because there could be exemptions that prevent us from getting what we want."

Mr Fowler said that during the 18 months after his son's death, he and his wife pursued every avenue possible to get the report, until they "ran into the sand".

"The HSE said they were minded to let us see it, but not without the permission of Thames Trains," Mr Fowler added. Thames ran Oxford station at the time of the accident.

In 1998, Mrs Fowler, 63, received the Campaign for Freedom of Information Award, which recognised the couple's persistence and their determination to ensure there was no repeat of the accident.

She said: "We have never employed lawyers to fight our case and we have no intention of suing anybody -- we just want to see that report. We will continue to work on this ourselves and see if we can use the new Act. We have also written to Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris to see if he can help in any way."

Thames Trains lost its franchise earlier this year, with First Great Western Link taking its place.

No-one from the Go-Ahead group, the parent company of Thames Trains, was available for comment yesterday, but soon after the Fowlers launched their campaign, a spokesman for the company told the Oxford Mail: "The information from the inquiry would have been confidential and Dr Fowler cannot be given access."

Karen Eldridge, a spokesman for the Health & Safety Executive, said yesterday: "We need to wait until the family uses the Act to make a request for the information they want before we can comment further about whether or not it will be released."

In theory, the new law should give the Fowlers powers to obtain the information they want.

After a request, public bodies, including rail firms, will be obliged to release information from as far back as the 1950s within 20 working days, provided the material is not prohibited from being released under exemptions detailed in the Act, such as national security.

Mr and Mrs Fowler expect to be featured in a BBC documentary about the new law, due to be shown on New Year's Eve.