Moorgate tube crash: Horror moment son realises own dad was killed in deadly disaster

When the telephone rang astatine 9am, writer Laurence Marks was astatine location successful his assembly level successful northbound London’s Finsbury Park.

It was February 28, 1975, and determination had been a superior incidental astatine Moorgate Station.

Instructions from his quality bureau brag were clear.

“Could I spell determination straightaway and find retired what was going on,” Laurence - present amended known arsenic the co-writer of deed TV sitcoms including Shine connected Harvey Moon, The New Statesman, Love Hurts and Birds of a Feather – tells The Mirror, up of the 50th day of the disaster.

A Northern City Line conduit bid had smashed into the extremity partition of the confederate terminus, sidesplitting the operator and 42 passengers, and injuring a further 74 people.

It was the worst peacetime mishap connected the London Underground - crushing the 16-metre archetypal carriage down to 6.1 metres. The 2nd carriage was concertinaed astatine the front, arsenic it collided with the first, with the 3rd riding implicit the rear of the second.

Then 26, Laurence spoke to survivors astatine Bart’s Hospital, earlier dictating his transcript down the telephone and heading home.

And astatine 4pm the telephone rang again. It was his stepmother, Eve.

As helium recounted the quality of his day, she said: “I deliberation your dada was connected that train. He caught a bid astatine Drayton Park astir 8.30am.”

Laurence recalls: “I could consciousness my humor moving cold.”

No 1 called Bernard (known arsenic Bernie) Marks had been admitted to hospital, according to the exigency helpline.

“Then, astatine 9pm, I had a brainwave. If my stepmother was close – she and Dad had lone been joined 4 months – he’d boarded the bid astatine Drayton Park, having near his car successful the presumption car park,” continues Laurence.

“It was a bitterly cold, misty February night. I drove with my brother-in-law, Alex, into the car park. I shan’t easy hide what we saw. There was 1 solitary car parked there: Dad’s reddish Cortina. That didn’t mean helium was dormant but it wasn’t looking good.

“I got nary slumber that night. At 9 o’clock the adjacent day, a uniformed policeman rang my doorbell. ‘I person to archer you,’ helium said, ‘that, astatine 4.10 this morning, your father’s assemblage was removed from the 2nd carriage of the train.’ Could I travel to the City of London mortuary to place him?

“I was rather tense astir what I was going to beryllium confronted with. I walked into a country wherever radical were wailing. The coroner and a pathologist past appeared. Would I similar to travel them?

“They lifted the sheet. Dad was connected his backmost and determination wasn’t immoderate disposable damage. I aboriginal learned, he’d died of ‘contusions of the encephalon to the backmost of the head’. On impact, he’d been thrown done the double-plated solid of the carriage window.”

Then different astonishing happening happened when, the pursuing Wednesday, Laurence received a telephone from the caput of Harry Evans, the legendary exertion of the Sunday Times - who wanted him to caput up an Insight probe into the crash.

Laurence continues: “I stammered thing astir being precise junior. But Harry had a hunch. He thought everyone progressive successful the communicative would speech to me, but not needfully to his paper’s reporters.

“I was past assigned a fantastic researcher, Penny Hallowes, and fixed 50 weeks to nutrient an nonfiction of immoderate 4,000 words. It yet appeared connected March 1, 1976 nether the provocative banner headline: ‘Was it suicide?’”

While the inquest verdict had been accidental death, Laurence interviewed the coroner, Dr David Paul. “At the extremity of our consequent interview, helium leant forward. ‘Between you and me,’ helium confided, ‘I’d spell down the termination route.’”

According to Laurence, the coroner past near for lunch, archetypal indicating that his harmless was unfastened - leaving the young writer unsocial to look inside.

Finding the full transcript of the inquest, including everyone’s name, code and telephone fig - immoderate 900 pages successful each - helium says: “I popped it into a Sainsbury's bearer bag, caught a cab to the Sunday Times offices successful Gray’s Inn Road and got it photocopied, earlier catching a cab backmost to the mortuary, sneaking up the occurrence flight and returning the transcript to the safe.”

Subsequent interviews with survivors, London Transport engineers, forensic pathologist, Professor Keith Simpson, and toxicologist Dr Anne Robinson produced grounds questioning the information of the brakes and the train’s velocity - which, astatine 40mph was 3 times the limit, according to Laurence.

And operator Leslie Newson, 56, had traces of a wide tone – vodka oregon Bacardi – successful his stomach.

But the driver’s widow, Helen Newson, refused to beryllium interviewed.

“I wrote to her 3 times without success,” helium says. “In the end, Penny Hallowes suggested we spell down to the New Cross assembly property wherever Helen lived. I pushed a enactment done her letterbox saying I was sitting downstairs successful my car.”

An hr later, Leslie’s girl Diane Newson came retired and said her mum would speak.

“It was a precise hard interview; the mediocre pistillate was inactive grief-stricken,” says Laurence. “But I did negociate to inquire whether determination was immoderate achromatic tone successful the cocktail cabinet. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘a vessel of Bacardi.’ Leslie wasn’t a drinker but he’d evidently had a tot earlier helium went disconnected to enactment that day. To antagonistic the freezing weather... oregon arsenic Dutch courageousness for what helium was astir to do?

“It’s lone just to spot connected grounds that Newson had implicit £200 successful currency successful his pocket: he’d intended buying a car for his girl erstwhile helium came off-duty. Why would helium instrumentality his ain beingness successful those circumstances?”

This conundrum volition beryllium addressed successful a Radio 4 play, written by Laurence and his spouse Maurice, arsenic a two-part play to people the 50th day of the crash.

But, portion this is the 3rd clip Laurence has revisited the communicative - erstwhile arsenic a reporter, erstwhile arsenic an investigative writer and present arsenic a scriptwriter - helium is inactive unwilling to gully a definite conclusion.

He says: “All I tin archer you was that the brakes were successful afloat moving order. And truthful was the driver.”

* Moorgate Part One: Outside airs connected Radio 4 connected Wednesday February 26 astatine 2.15pm; Part Two: Inside connected Thursday February 27 astatine 2.15pm.

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