Tunnel safety fears raised a year after fire

Channel tunnel safety measures are still causing concern one year on from the devastating freight shuttle train fire after which 30 lorry drivers needed hospital treatment, the Consumers' Association said yesterday.

The tunnel operator, Eurotunnel, has introduced additional measures and altered procedures following the fire on 18 November 1996. But the CA said that it was still worried about open-sided freight carriages, evacuation procedures and the non-segregation of passengers from cars on the shuttle trains.

Eurotunnel said it was confident the steps it had taken made the tunnel "even safer than it was before the fire". In May 1997, an official report from the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority made 36 recommendations after saying the fire had exposed "fundamental weaknesses" in safety systems. Yesterday, Eurotunnel said that most of the recommendations had been implemented.