Paddington rail crash survivor David Taylor has attacked a train company for allowing more than 1,000 passengers to travel on a rugby special from Didcot.

The 34-year-old spoke out after it was revealed Saturday's 10am Paddington to Swansea train was so packed it was unable to make a scheduled stop further down the line.

Although guards tried to persuade passengers to leave the First Great Western train at its next stop after Didcot, no-one did and the train continued to Wales, where a World Cup rugby quarter-final was being played. Mr Taylor, of Abingdon Road, Didcot, who survived the Paddington rail crash, claimed carrying that number of people on a train, designed to seat 470, put safety at risk.

He added that it was "disgraceful" it should happen in the same month that 30 people had lost their lives and just two days after London's Paddington station had been re-opened.

Mr Taylor said: "It would be illegal to carry cattle like that. It's disgraceful that people should be carried in this way. "Where does all the luggage go? The answer is, it blocks the aisles, and how does that do anything for safety? It should be illegal under Health & Safety Executive rules.

"I don't think there has ever been any evacuation tests for British rolling stock."

The crash survivor, who took wife Dianne and baby son Gage to the Ladbroke Grove crash site in the same week as the tragedy, added: "This is an area of contention that frustrates me.

"While people are standing up in packed conditions like this, the train companies are still getting their full revenue. There is no refund if you didn't get a seat." First Great Western, which opted not to make a scheduled stop at Bristol Parkway because of the number of people already on board, denied that the overcrowding had presented any safety hazard.

A spokesman said: "We would always encourage people to take a later train."

"The new signal arrangements at Paddington mean there is limited capacity but we had people who were very enthusiastic to get to the game."

Story date: Monday 25 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.