RAIL investigators today cast doubt on York-based Jarvis Rail's claims that sabotage was to blame for the Potters Bar rail crash.

A report from the Health and Safety Executive said "no evidence has been established" to support a claim by the rail company, which has its headquarters in Toft Green, that vandalism to a set of points caused the disaster.

Instead, the progress report indicated that the points at the centre of the accident investigation were not up to standard.

HSE officers also found that other points in the Potters Bar area were found not to have been fully tightened.

Seven people were killed on May 10 when a West Anglia Great Northern train derailed near Potters Bar station. An interim report claimed that a faulty set of points was to blame.

A post-crash HSE inspection of points across the rail network found differing standards in the condition of points and of maintenance arrangements, including record-keeping.

Maintenance of this section of track was carried out by contractor Jarvis - which said that sabotage "cannot be discounted".

It claimed it had evidence that nuts on the faulty points had been adjusted in the 48 hours before the crash.

But in its report today the HSE said: "No evidence has yet been established to support speculation or theories that vandalism or deliberate unauthorised interference caused the derailment."

The report recommended that Railtrack and its contractors should review the standard, specification and design of points.

The HSE has confirmed an interim report's preliminary conclusions that nuts missing from a part of the points caused those points to "fail catastrophically".

The train's rear coach detached from the others and came to rest on its side, wedged under the canopy of the station.

However, Jarvis Rail was given a ray of hope.

The HSE conceded that it was "too early in the investigation, which is being led by British Transport Police, to pronounce definitively on the direct or root cause of the accident".

The nuts were missing from adjustable stretcher bars which keep the moveable section of track at the correct width for the train's wheels.

The HSE said the set-up of the points in question - points No 2182A - were found "not to be as designed".

The leader of the train drivers' union, Aslef, said prosecution of senior managers at Jarvis should now be "urgently considered" for failure to maintain the railway to a safe standard.

General Secretary Mick Rix said: "This report confirms that Jarvis was talking nonsense when they raised the red herring of sabotage in order to divert attention from their own shortcomings and to prop up their share price.

"It is now time that urgent consideration be given to prosecuting senior management at Jarvis for failure to maintain the railway to a safe standard.

"Urgent action should also be taken to bring railway maintenance back under proper public control.

Updated: 14:45 Thursday, July 04, 2002