As a result, the service was directed to return to Aberdeen. The train crossed over to the Down line, but a mile or so further on struck another landslip which derailed almost the whole train. Despite the small number of people on board, there were three fatalities: the driver, conductor, and a passenger. It was the first on-board passenger accident fatality for almost 13 years, underlining the railway’s excellent overall safety record.
By noon today, Press Gazette admitted that there had been severely adverse comment passed by many readers and observers, telling “IPSO has said it is dealing with a ‘high volume of complaints’ about the Scottish Sun's splash yesterday headlined ‘Death Express’ about the train derailment in Aberdeenshire that killed three people. ‘We are dealing with these under our normal procedures,’ it said”.
“Wednesday was a tragic day for Scotland, and the headline on the front page of our paper in relation to the terrible train accident caused further distress … For that I am truly sorry … this time I made a mistake … At a time when family, friends and colleagues are grieving the loss of their loved ones, the last thing they need is something else to add to their grief … I got it wrong on this occasion and can only apologise for that”.
The kind of weakness that comes from circulation across the whole of the UK falling well below the one million mark, losing the top slot to the Daily Mail, and a parent group - News Corp - that only last week posted a thumping $1.5 billion loss.
No more braggadocio, no more swagger. But the message is the same. Don’t buy the Sun.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet6
It's worth noting that the Scottish edition of the Bum is not generally as bad as its equivalent in England. It is still a cheapjack populist rag, but it has been allowed a degree of autonomy with regard to what it covers and how.
ReplyDeleteI hope somebody tells Muir to stick his "apology" up his arse.
ReplyDeleteSideways.
If they truly mran it, then print your apologies on the front page, big font. Rather than page 26,just belod the "massage" ads. #totaleclipseofthesun
ReplyDeleteThe blame game has already started I see. But as an ex-railwayman what is obvious to me looking at the aerial photos is that, unless the landslip happened at the moment the train approached, the train was being driven too quickly all things considered. Having been turned back because of a landslip and because of the weather conditions I would been proceeding at a speed that ensured I could stop within my field of vision even if that meant crawling along, the conductor should have been in the cab with the driver to assist him in looking out. I've had to do that a number of times including once trying to find local train in a snowstorm to assist where the protecting guard had put detonators on a check rail, another where a track circuit failure had been caused by a minor tunnel roof fall and best of all a wooden footbridge set afire by vandals collapsed on the line reported by a passing freight has a minor lineside fire! You can never be too careful!
ReplyDelete