CAMPAIGNING MP Gwyneth Dunwoody is demanding that the Rail industry in England and Wales sets up a confidential hotline so that rail staff worried about safety can raise their anxieties without fear of retribution.

Mrs Dunwoody, the chairman of the influential House of Commons Transport Committee, has backed the Oxford Mail's proposal to set up its own emergency telephone number in the wake of the Paddington rail disaster. The Crewe and Nantwich MP raised the issue with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in the Commons this week when she asked him to "make sure that Railtrack introduces as soon as possible a confidential reporting unit so train staff and drivers and anyone else connected with the railways could give confidential evidence about companies or incidents that broke the law or safety rules". She told him: "It is clear from my postbag that there is a nasty atmosphere in some of the companies, with bullying meaning that people are frightened to speak out.

"The public will be protected only when people are openly able to report on what is happening and what is endangering lives." Mrs Dunwoody said the scheme could be modelled on one already run by the Civil Aviation Authority to enable pilots to report on near-misses and other dangerous incidents without fear of disciplinary action by their companies.

And she said that an experiment in Scotland had shown that this system could work on the railways.

She said: "What I want to see is a system where people can ring up a confidential telephone number and report safety concerns.

"They would have to establish they were genuine and then the authorities would check their complaint out without risk of them being identified to the company. She said: "I know from my postbag that there are lots of rail staff who are concerned about taking out equipment that they do not believe is safe. I have had cases of drivers taking out engines where the APT or AWS warning systems are turned off.

"I've also had cases of signalmen concerned about trains overrunning signals but who are frightened to report it to anyone in case the company find out.

"There should be a confidential telephone line where they can report this and the authorities can check it out without the staff feeling at risk.

"I would warmly support the Oxford Mail setting up its own confidential hotline as an interim measure. I would support anything that improves safety."

Story date: Thursday 21 October

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