Paddington crash driver 'had not been properly trained'

The train company whose driver jumped a red light, causing the Paddington disaster, in which 31 people were killed, admitted for the first time yesterday that he had not been fully instructed about his job.

Thames Trains conceded that Michael Hodder, a newly qualified driver, had not been examined on his knowledge of the part of the track - among the most complicated on the national network - where the crash happened.

On the first day of the inquiry into the disaster, Mr Hodder's employers also acknowledged he had not been instructed about the risks of passing certain signals at danger. Concern centres on signal 109 - which Mr Hodder passed at red and which had been passed at danger on eight occasions since 1993.

Neither Mr Hodder nor Brian Cooper, the driver of the Great Western express with which he collided, should have been driving their trains.

Thames Trains had failed to insist that Mr Hodder fill in an application form for his job in which he would have been forced to admit that he had a criminal record.

Management said it was "most unlikely" that the company would have taken him on if it had known he had a conviction for assault and affray. Mr Cooper was only driving the Great Western express because a colleague had reported in sick. Both men died in the collision.

The inquiry also heard that a vital 25 seconds elapsed between the signal-box realising that the Thames train had jumped a red light and action being taken to prevent a crash.