LETTER : Motion against LT 'barbarity'

From Sir Russell Johnston, MP

Sir: I read with dismay and growing disgust your report on the 10-year fight by King's Cross fire victim Ron Lipsius to be awarded compensation by London Transport ("Out of the fire and into a legal inferno", 31 January).

One tends to feel very powerless as a spectator in these situations, and there is little that can be done to make the legal wheels grind any faster, but I have tabled a motion that should mean this matter will receive some attention in the House of Commons.

The motion unreservedly condemns the crude, careless indifference exhibited by London Transport and their legal representatives. It calls on the Government to consider how such cases can be dealt with in a civilised, compassionate way rather than by the legalised barbarity to which this innocent person has been subject.

Yours faithfully,

Russell Johnston

MP for Inverness, Nairn

and Lochaber (Lib Dem)

House of Commons

London, SW1

31 January