87-537: The Methodist Central Hall (also known as Central Hall Westminster ) is a multi-purpose venue in the City of Westminster , London, serving primarily as a Methodist church and a conference centre . The building also houses an art gallery, a restaurant, and office spaces (used formerly as the headquarters of the Methodist Church of Great Britain until 2000). It contains 22 conference, meeting and seminar rooms,
174-643: A portcullis as the main charge, which now forms the crest . The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Westminster. Ladbroke Grove rail crash The Ladbroke Grove rail crash (also known as the Paddington rail crash ) was a rail accident which occurred on 5 October 1999 at Ladbroke Grove in London , England, when a Thames Trains -operated passenger train passed
261-454: A basis for damages claims. Mr Gray was found guilty of the offence of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility , and detained in psychiatric care as a result. He then sued Thames Trains, along with Network Rail , seeking compensation for the loss of the earnings which he should have earned to date and might have subsequently have earned if he had not committed the offence and consequently been detained. The High Court initially, and
348-628: A car or van, 6.0%; work mainly at or from home, 5.5%; bicycle, 3.1%; train, 3.0%. Westminster Children's Services administers many primary and secondary schools. In addition, there are several state-funded faith schools, primarily Church of England (CE), and Roman Catholic (RC), but Christian non-denominational (ND) schools are also in the borough, and there are several non-profit-making junior and senior independent schools . The city operates two reference libraries; Westminster Reference Library and Marylebone Information Service. Westminster Reference Library holds several special collections: of which
435-676: A city. In 1585 the Westminster Court of Burgesses was established to administer certain judicial powers in an area known as the City and Liberty of Westminster . From 1856 the area was also governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works , which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London . From 1856 until 1900
522-525: A few days ahead of that a royal charter was issued conferring city status on the new borough of Westminster from its creation. The Court of Burgesses, which had ceded most practical powers to the newer authorities, was finally abolished in 1901. The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 . It was a merger of the old Paddington, St Marylebone and Westminster metropolitan boroughs, and Westminster's city status
609-514: A follow-up audit in September 1999 found no evidence of any remedial action being taken. The failure to have signal sighting committees convened was persistent and serious. It was due ... to a combination of incompetent management and inadequate process, the latter consisting in the absence of a process at a higher level for identifying whether those who were responsible for convening such committees were or were not doing so. There had been over
696-551: A less than perfect training programme. The Class 165 unit had been fitted with an Automatic Warning System (AWS) which required the driver to acknowledge a warning every time he approached a signal not at green. If an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system had been fitted and working it would have automatically applied brakes to prevent the train going beyond any signal at red. National adoption of ATP, British Rail's preferred train protection system, had been recommended after
783-531: A licence to sell alcohol in its café and conference venues. As the Methodist Church has traditionally promoted abstinence and usually forbids consumption of alcohol on church premises, many Methodists argued that the application was in defiance of church rules and a written objection was compiled. It is frequently used for public enquiries, including those into the Ladbroke Grove rail crash ,
870-559: A mismatch between public opinion and cost-benefit analysis . Major changes in the formal responsibilities for management and regulation of safety of UK rail transport ensued. At 08:06 BST on 5 October 1999, a British Rail Class 165 Turbo diesel multiple unit or DMU, No. 165 115, left Paddington Station on a Thames Trains service to Bedwyn railway station in Wiltshire , driven by 31-year-old Michael Hodder. From Paddington to Ladbroke Grove Junction (about 2 miles (3.2 km) to
957-572: A new body should be set up to manage Railway Group Standards. In 1996 ScotRail had initiated the creation of a confidential rail safety reporting system (later to become CIRAS) formed from an independent panel chiefly from Strathclyde University . Other TOCs expressed interest and others in Scotland voluntarily joined the system. Following the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott mandated that all mainline rail in
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#17327578042371044-444: A population of 204,300 at the 2021 census. The original settlement of Westminster was historically a separate urban area to the west of London, growing up around the minster church of Westminster Abbey. Westminster was an important centre of royal authority from Saxon times, and was declared a city in 1540. It was gradually absorbed into the urban area of London, but London's official city boundaries remained unchanged, covering just
1131-731: A signal at danger , colliding almost head-on with a First Great Western -operated passenger train. With 31 people killed and 417 injured, it was one of the worst rail accidents in 20th-century British history. It was the second major crash on the Great Western Main Line in just over two years, the first being the Southall rail crash of September 1997, a few miles west of this crash. Both crashes would have been prevented by an operational automatic train protection (ATP) system, wider fitting of which had been rejected on cost grounds. The crash severely damaged public confidence in
1218-454: A train had passed a signal at danger they should set signals to danger and immediately send a radio "emergency all stop" signal to the driver of the train by Cab Secure Radio (CSR) as soon as they realised that it had done so. In the event, only when the Thames train was 200 m (660 ft) past the signal did they start to send a radio "emergency all stop" signal (it is not clear whether
1305-669: Is a London borough with city status in Greater London , England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government . It contains a large part of central London , including most of the West End , such as the major shopping areas around Oxford Street , Regent Street , Piccadilly and Bond Street , and the entertainment district of Soho . Many London landmarks are within
1392-580: Is absent the further down the organisation one goes." Thames Trains inherited a driver training programme from British Rail, which had changed to the point where in February 1999, a concerned incoming training manager commissioned an external audit which reported The trainers did not appear to be following the training course syllabus and supporting notes as they considered these to be 'not fit for purpose' with inappropriate time allowances for some sessions. The traction and introduction to driving section of
1479-554: Is an early example of the use of a reinforced concrete frame for a building in Britain. The interior was similarly planned on a Piranesian scale, although the execution was rather more economical. The original 1904 design included two small towers on the main (east) façade, facing Westminster Abbey. These were never built, supposedly because of an outcry that they would reduce the dominance of Nicholas Hawksmoor 's west towers at Westminster Abbey in views from St James's Park . The hall
1566-514: Is at 14 St James's Square . Many countries' embassies or High Commissions are in Westminster. The current Westminster coat of arms was given by an official grant on 2 September 1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had a chief identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the lower two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington and St Marylebone. The original arms had
1653-461: Is taken into account in the making of decisions about rail safety but did not align with the output of CBA (cost-benefits analysis). Any future ATP system will entail expenditure at levels many times higher than that indicated by any approach based upon CBA. Despite its cost, there appears to be a general consensus in favour of ATP . Both TPWS and ETCS would be mandatory and therefore their cost implications need not be considered by any body other than
1740-631: The Clapham Junction rail crash , but later abandoned because the safety benefits were considered not great enough to justify the cost. After a previous SPAD, Thames Trains had commissioned a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) study specific to the Paddington situation which came to the same conclusion. The Ladbroke Grove accident was felt to cast doubt on the wisdom of these decisions. However, the Cullen inquiry confirmed that CBA would not support
1827-524: The Conservative Monday Club held a much publicised "Halt Immigration Now!" public meeting in the main hall, addressed by several prominent speakers including members of parliament Ronald Bell , John Biggs-Davison , Harold Soref , and John Stokes . The Monday Club continued its use of the building until 1991 when it held two seminars there. In 1968, Central Hall hosted the first public performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber 's Joseph and
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#17327578042371914-455: The Diocese of London in 1540, by letters patent which also granted city status to Westminster, a status retained after the diocese was abolished in 1550. The area was historically part of the county of Middlesex . Whilst an important centre of royal authority from Saxon times, Westminster was not formally incorporated as a borough for local government purposes until 1900. However, it
2001-559: The Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and Big Ben . Charing Cross is the notional centre of London and the location where distances from London are measured. This custom appears to have begun with the set distances of the 12 Eleanor crosses to Lincoln, England in the north, and expanded even after destruction of most of the crosses. These include Green Park , Hyde Park , Kensington Gardens , Regent's Park and St James's Park . In addition to parks and open spaces within
2088-666: The Rail Accident Investigation Branch , in addition to the Railway Inspectorate . Standards-setting, accident investigation and regulatory functions were from then on clearly separated, on the model of the aviation industry. On 5 April 2004, Thames Trains was fined a record £2 million after admitting violations of health and safety law in connection with the crash and ordered to pay £75,000 in legal costs. On 31 October 2006, Network Rail (the successor body to Railtrack, formed in
2175-503: The 06:03 First Great Western train from Cheltenham to Paddington. The 06:03 InterCity 125 high speed train (HST) was driven by 52-year-old Brian Cooper. It consisted of a rake of eight Mark 3 coaches with a Class 43 diesel power car at each end, here led by No. 43 011. The chassis and body of the HST are notably stronger than the structure of the Class 165 DMU, the leading car of which
2262-775: The 2015 film Suffragette , some of which was shot in the hall. Methodist Central Hall hosted the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946. In return for the use of the hall, the assembly voted to fund the repainting of the walls of the church in a light blue. While it was being used by the UN General Assembly, the congregation relocated to the Coliseum Theatre . It has been regularly used for political rallies—famous speakers have included Winnie Mandela , Mahatma Gandhi and Mikhail Gorbachev . In September 1972
2349-636: The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in a concert that also included his father (organist William Lloyd Webber who was musical director at Central Hall), his brother the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and pianist John Lill . In early 1966 the FIFA World Cup Jules Rimet Trophy was on display at Central Hall in preparation for the football tournament being held in England that summer. It was stolen from
2436-589: The City of Westminster also have a large concentration of hedge fund and private equity funds. The West End is known as the Theatre District and is home to many of the leading performing arts businesses. Soho and its adjoining areas house a concentration of media and creative companies. Oxford Street is a busy shopping destination. The City of Westminster contains some of the most famous sites in London, including Buckingham Palace , Westminster Abbey ,
2523-590: The County of London was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs . The parish of Paddington became the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington , and the parish of the St Marylebone became the Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone . The various territories within the old City and Liberty of Westminster became the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster . The new boroughs came into being on 1 November 1900;
2610-823: The Railtrack employee with formal responsibility for action-tracking had been told his responsibility ended once someone accepted an action, and did not extend to checking that they had acted upon it. Between February 1998 and the accident there had been four separate groups set up with the aim of reducing SPADs; their existence, membership and functions overlapped. A Railtrack manager told the inquiry how he struggled on his arrival in October 1998 to understand how "so many apparently good people could produce so little action": people had burdens that were too complex; they were not prioritising; people were "square pegs in round holes"; some were not competent; and, in summary, "the culture of
2697-912: The Sherlock Holmes, Arts and Business collections are the most comprehensive. In addition to the collections in Westminster Reference Library the city has two specialist libraries: the Westminster Music Library , the largest music library in the UK and the Westminster Chinese Library in the Charing Cross Library. Free City of Westminster operated public lending libraries in Westminster include: The London Library , an independent lending library funded by subscription,
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2784-531: The South Coast including Clapham Junction , Sutton , Brighton , Eastbourne , Gatwick Airport ( [REDACTED] ), Guildford , Portsmouth , and Southampton . Services operated by Southern . Gatwick Airport [REDACTED] Services operated by Gatwick Express . The City of Westminster is served by 27 London Underground stations and 10 of the 11 lines. By 2009 Westminster City Council had electric vehicle charging points in 15 locations through
2871-567: The UK come under the Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis System (CIRAS) to involve every rail employee in the rail safety process. CIRAS now provides services to all rail workers and operating sectors throughout England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland (ROI). The Railways Inspectorate had a responsibility for advising on and inspecting against matters affecting railway safety; they were also
2958-528: The UK government and the EU Commission. The inquiry noted evidence that railway safety statistics had not worsened after privatisation, nor had there been any evidence that however privatisation had been carried out it would have been detrimental to safety. Concerns were however expressed about how privatisation had been carried out: Beyond exhortations to do better, the Inquiry recommended changes in
3045-413: The adjoining fields, eventually absorbing nearby villages such as Marylebone and Kensington , and gradually creating the vast Greater London that exists today. Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries abolished the abbey at Westminster, although the former abbey church is still called Westminster Abbey . The church was briefly the cathedral of the Diocese of Westminster created from part of
3132-517: The adoption of TPWS (an upgrade of AWS, which could stop trains travelling at less than 70 mph within the overlap distance of a red signal delivering it assessed about 2 ⁄ 3 the safety benefits of ATP at much lower cost) by 2004 (advanced, a week after the crash, to 2003 ). The separate joint inquiry on the problem nationally noted that ATP and contrasting AWS introduced since about 1958 (and therefore TPWS) had continuing reliability problems and were obsolescent technology inconsistent with
3219-532: The adoption of ATP by Thames Trains. The signalling system on the approaches to Paddington did not incorporate ' flank protection ' (where the points beyond a stop signal are automatically set to direct the train away from the path which would cause a collision). This would have routed the train running past SN109 onto the Down Relief line. This should have been considered at the design stage. The reasons for not engineering flank protection were not known but it
3306-521: The approval of the signalling scheme; secondly, the slow progress by Railtrack and the HMRI in bringing issues to a conclusion; and, thirdly, the inadequate risk analysis. Matters had not been followed up with more urgency. More could have been done to enforce health and safety legislation. She attributed these deficiencies to three causes: A fortnight before the crash the HSE had announced an intention to require
3393-501: The area called the City of London , broadly corresponding to the medieval walled city. From the 19th century some metropolis -wide administrative bodies were introduced. The County of London was created in 1889, replaced in 1965 by the larger administrative area of Greater London , which since 2000 has been led by the Mayor of London . The cities of London and Westminster retain their separate city statuses despite having long been part of
3480-529: The border with the City of London formed the Strand District . Beyond the liberty to the north, the two parishes of Paddington and St Marylebone were also governed by their vestries. The Westminster District was renamed the St Margaret and St John Combined Vestry in 1887, and unsuccessfully petitioned to be incorporated as a borough in 1897. In 1900 the lower tier of local government within
3567-437: The borough, including Buckingham Palace , Westminster Abbey , Whitehall , Westminster Cathedral , 10 Downing Street , and Trafalgar Square . The borough also has a number of major parks and open spaces , including Hyde Park , and most of Regent's Park . Away from central London the borough also includes various inner suburbs, including St John's Wood , Maida Vale , Bayswater , Belgravia and Pimlico . The borough had
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3654-660: The borough, the City owns and maintains East Finchley Cemetery and crematorium in the London Borough of Barnet . Four National Rail stations serve the City of Westminster: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Heathrow Airport [REDACTED] Services operated by Heathrow Express and Elizabeth line ( [REDACTED] ) . [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] South London, Sussex and
3741-410: The city (13 car parks and two on-street points). Users pay an annual fee to cover administration costs to register and use the points. By 2018 there were 60 electric vehicle charging locations. In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 21.0% of all residents aged 16–74; on foot, 9.3%; bus, minibus or coach, 9.3%; driving
3828-506: The course has been extended and the six week route learning session is being used as additional practical handling. Indeed, Michael Hodder's 16 weeks' practical training had been given by a trainer who felt that "I was not there to teach ... the routes. I was totally to teach ... how to drive a Turbo"; the training manager was unaware of this. Details of signals which had been repeatedly passed at danger should have been supplied to trainers and passed on to trainees; no trainer had done so, and
3915-443: The disaster was determined to be the Class 165 passing a red signal (numbered SN109 on gantry 8 overhead beside four signals serving other tracks) at which the train should have been stopped. The signal was displaying a red aspect, and the preceding signal a single yellow which should have alerted the driver of the red signal ahead. Since Hodder, the driver, was killed in the collision, it was not possible to establish why he had passed
4002-515: The down main line at Ladbroke Grove. It should have been held at a red signal at Portobello Junction until it could be rerouted safely. Instead, it passed the signal; and the points directed the multiple unit onto the Up Main Line at Ladbroke Grove. At about 8:09, as it was entering the Up Line, it collided nearly head-on and at a combined speed of approximately 130 mph (210 km/h) with
4089-432: The ethnic group of respondents in the 1991 to 2021 censuses in Westminster. The borough ranks highest on one standard criteria in analysing housing supply and demand, the proportion of private rented accommodation relative to other types of housing in England. A study in 2017 by Trust for London and The New Policy Institute found that Westminster has the third-highest pay inequality of the 32 London boroughs. It also has
4176-542: The former Roman city with its still-existing Roman walls, was repopulated and Lundenwic declined, becoming pastoral and partly known as Aldwych (Aldwic—'old village'), the name of which lives on for a section of Westminster. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England. In the mid-11th century, King Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only
4263-408: The foundations of which survive today. Between the abbey and the river he built a palace, thereby guaranteeing that the seat of Government would be fixed at Westminster, and inevitably drawing power and wealth west out of the old City of London. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct. It was not until the sixteenth century that houses began to be built over
4350-506: The hall on 20 March 1966 and was recovered seven days later in south London, but the thief was never caught. England won the trophy four months later. The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen again in Brazil and never recovered, and so had to be replaced. In 2017, Central Hall was host to the first FIFA Interactive World Cup final where Spencer Ealing (known as Gorilla) beat Kai Wollin (known as DETO). In 2005, Central Hall controversially applied for
4437-572: The impending standardisation EU-wide per the ETCS European Train Control System . In the year between Ladbroke Grove and the joint inquiry the rail industry (if not the general public) had become largely committed to the adoption of TPWS. Consequently, although the joint inquiry expressed considerable reservations about the effectiveness of TPWS it concurred with its adoption. The joint inquiry noted that public reaction to catastrophic rail accidents ... should be and
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#17327578042374524-513: The industry structure. Railtrack had not merely had responsibility for railways infrastructure, but also a lead responsibility for safety: for acceptance of the Safety Case of each TOC and for setting "Railway Group Standards" (system-wide standards on matters affecting safety). Since it also had commercial interests in these issues TOCs were unhappy with this: Cullen recommended that safety case acceptance should be directly by HSE in future, and
4611-549: The largest being the Great Hall , which seats 2,300. Central Hall also acts as an important spiritual and sacred place for Methodists. Methodist Central Hall occupies the corner of Tothill Street and Storeys Gate just off Victoria Street in London, near the junction with The Sanctuary next to the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and facing Westminster Abbey . Methodist Central Hall
4698-609: The latter two being separated from Westminster by the River Thames . Charing Cross in Westminster is the notional centre of London, being the point from which distances from London are measured. After the depopulation of Roman London in the 5th century, an Anglo Saxon agricultural and trade settlement likely developed to its west, associated with the Middle Saxons , sometimes called Lundenwic ('London village' or London port'). Over time, Lundenburh ('London fort'),
4785-503: The lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards . Within the City and Liberty of Westminster, the three parishes of St George Hanover Square , St James Piccadilly and St Martin-in-the-Fields were governed by their vestries , whilst the parishes covering the central part of Westminster formed the Westminster District and the parishes and territories adjoining
4872-442: The management and regulation of safety of Britain's privatised railway system . A public inquiry into the crash by Lord Cullen was held in 2000. Since both the Paddington and Southall crashes had reopened public debate on ATP, a separate joint inquiry considering the issue in the light of both crashes was also held in 2000; it confirmed the rejection of ATP and the mandatory adoption of a cheaper and less effective system, but noted
4959-468: The outset there was not an adequate overall consideration of the difficulties which would face drivers, in particular in signal sighting, on which the safety of travellers critically depended. Secondly, when difficulties did emerge, there was not an adequate reconsideration of the scheme. There was a resistance to questioning what had already been done. Cost, delay and interference with the performance objectives underlay that resistance. The red aspect of SN109
5046-423: The place had gone seriously adrift over many years". The chief executive of Railtrack spoke of a seemingly endemic culture of complacency and inaction, which he said reflected the culture of the old British Rail : "The culture is one in which decisions are delegated upwards. There has been little empowerment. People have tended to manage reactively, not proactively. The basic management discipline of 'plan-do-review'
5133-509: The practical trainer quoted above was unaware that SN109 was a multi-SPAD signal. Testing of trainees was similarly unstructured and unstandardised, with no clear pass/fail criteria. Under the previous British Railways training regime, trainees would have spent far longer in training and once qualified, were not allowed to drive over the notoriously difficult approach to/from Paddington until they had at least two years' experience on less complex routes. Hodder had only qualified 13 days earlier; he
5220-405: The rear car was undamaged, able to be used for spare parts. In a subsequent case arising out of a manslaughter committed by one of the victims of the crash, Kerrie Gray, who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and went on to kill a pedestrian, legal issues were raised regarding the legal principle known as ex turpi causa non oritur actio , which holds that illegal actions cannot form
5307-505: The red signal. The inquiry noted that the lines out of and into Paddington were known to be prone to SPAD mishaps – hosting an unusual concentration of eight SPADs at signal SN109 in the preceding six years – and attempted to identify the underlying causes. Paddington approaches had been resignalled by British Rail in the early 1990s to allow bidirectional working . The number of signals and limited trackside space meant that most signals were in gantries over
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#17327578042375394-519: The same urban area. The modern borough was created in 1965 as part of the same reforms which created Greater London, covering the area of the three former metropolitan boroughs of Westminster , Paddington and St Marylebone . The local authority is Westminster City Council . To the east, Westminster borders the City of London , with the boundary marked by Temple Bar . Other neighbouring boroughs (anti-clockwise from north-east) are Camden , Brent , Kensington and Chelsea , Wandsworth and Lambeth ,
5481-406: The second-least affordable private rent for low earners in London, behind only Kensington and Chelsea . In education, 82% of adults and 69% of 19-year-olds having Level 3 qualifications. The City of Westminster covers all or part of the following areas of London : Many global corporations have their global or European headquarters in the City of Westminster. Mayfair and St James's within
5568-514: The signal at danger. However, Hodder was inexperienced, having qualified as a driver only two weeks before the crash. His driver training was found to be defective on at least two grounds: assessing situation-handling skills, and being notified of recent local incidents of Signals Passed at Danger (SPAD). The local signals were known to have caused other near misses – SN109 had been passed at danger on eight occasions in six years, but Hodder had no specific warning of this. Furthermore, 5 October 1999
5655-400: The signal was actually sent before the crash). Their understanding of the instructions was that they should wait to see if the driver stopped of his own accord before attempting to contact him; this interpretation was supported by their immediate manager. The signalmen had never been trained in the use of CSR, nor had they ever used it in response to a SPAD. The general picture which emerged
5742-835: The sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat, and the Bloody Sunday incident in Northern Ireland . The Methodist Central Hall is a Grade II* listed building. It was designed by Edwin Alfred Rickards , of the firm Lanchester, Stewart and Rickards . This company also designed the City Hall building in Cathays Park , Cardiff , with which it shares many similarities. Although clad in an elaborate baroque style, to contrast with Westminster Abbey , it
5829-572: The site, accessible from a supermarket car park, at 51°31′30″N 0°12′58″W / 51.5251°N 0.2160°W / 51.5251; -0.2160 . Heavy damage to power car 43011 saw it written off, officially withdrawn in November. After the completion of the inquiry it was cut up by Sims Metals in Crewe, Cheshire in June 2002. The Turbo unit was written off, the front two cars were scrapped;
5916-481: The standard signals (with the four aspects arranged vertically) were replaced with non-standard 'reverse L' signals, with the red aspect to the left of the lower yellow. The resignalling had been implemented ahead of formal HMRI approval; awaited at the time of the crash. The line had been electrified to allow the new Heathrow Express service to operate from 1994 with overhead electrification equipment that further obstructed drivers' view of signals: ... from
6003-443: The time all the other gantry 8 signals westbound were also showing red. Local spacing between signals and points was designed to allow fast through-running by freight trains, such that gantry 8 was less than 100 metres (330 ft) west of a road bridge not at high level; this compromised the distance from which the signal could be seen by drivers of trains leaving Paddington. To allow the higher ('proceed') aspects to be seen sooner,
6090-422: The tracks; the curvature of the lines meant that it was not always obvious which signal was for which track. Reflective line-identification signs had therefore been added but, the inquiry report noted, they were closer to the signal to the right hand side than to the signal for the line to which they related . However, misreading of which signal related to which track cannot have caused the fatal crash, because at
6177-495: The usual investigating body for serious railway crashes. Cullen felt that there was "a strong argument for an investigating body which enjoys real and perceived independence" and therefore recommended that rail accident investigation should become the responsibility of a separate body. The recommendations of Lord Cullen's inquiry into the crash led to the creation in 2003 of the Rail Safety and Standards Board and in 2005 of
6264-518: The wake of a subsequent train crash at Hatfield ) pleaded guilty to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in relation to the accident. It was fined £4 million on 30 March 2007 and ordered to pay £225,000 in legal costs. Signal SN109 was brought back into service in February 2006. It and many other signals in the Paddington area are now single-lens type signals. A memorial garden and cenotaph has been created, partially overlooking
6351-510: The west), the lines were bi-directional (signalled to allow trains to travel in either direction, in and out of the platforms of Paddington Station); beyond Ladbroke Grove the main line from London to South Wales and the West of England is a more conventional layout of two lines in each direction ('up' for travel to London, 'down' for travel away from London) carrying both fast and slow trains. Being an outbound train, it would have been routed onto
6438-598: The years a number of proposals or recommendations for the risk assessment of the signalling in the Paddington area; none of them was carried into effect. Multiple SPADs at SN109 in August 1998 should have triggered a risk assessment; none took place. An inquiry into a February 1998 SPAD at SN109 had already recommended risk assessment of signalling on the Paddington–Ladbroke Grove bi-directional lines; this and many other inquiry recommendations had not been implemented:
6525-407: The yellow aspects of SN109 at a point where his view of the red aspect (but not of any other signal on the gantry) was still obstructed. The inquiry considered it more probable than not that the poor visibility of SN109, caused by not only its own position but the positioning of other signals at gantry 8, along with the reflections of sunlight, led Hodder to believe that he was able to proceed and pass
6612-402: Was a clear day and at just past 08:00 the sun would have been low, behind Hodder, meaning that sunlight would reflect off yellow aspects, reducing visibility. The driver of a previous westbound train reported that "all the signals right the way across all lit up like a Christmas tree" at gantry 6 at about 7:50 that morning. Poor signal placement meant that Hodder would have seen the reflection of
6699-400: Was built in 1912 by William Hill & Sons and rebuilt and revised in 1970 by Rushworth and Dreaper . In 2011, Harrison & Harrison revised the layout, provided new slider soundboards and actions and painted the front pipes. The organ has 57 stops/68 ranks and 3,789 speaking pipes on four manuals and pedal. The stoplist since 2011: City of Westminster The City of Westminster
6786-418: Was declared a city in 1540 on the elevation of Westminster Abbey to being a cathedral . From at least 1545 there was also a Westminster parliamentary borough (constituency). The Anglican Diocese of Westminster was short-lived, being absorbed back into the Diocese of London in 1550. Despite having no borough corporation and having ceased to be the seat of a diocese, Westminster continued to be described as
6873-506: Was erected by Wesleyan Methodists as one of their mixed-purpose 'central halls'. Central Hall was to act not only as a church, but to be of "great service for conferences on religious, educational, scientific, philanthropic and social questions". The hall was built in 1905–1911 on the site of the Royal Aquarium, Music Hall and Imperial Theatre , an entertainment complex that operated with varying success from 1876 to 1903. Construction
6960-468: Was eventually finished in 1911. The domed ceiling of the Great Hall is reputed to be the second largest of its type in the world. The vast scale of the self-supporting ferro-concrete structure reflects the original intention that Central Hall was intended to be a meeting place for "open-air preaching with the roof on". The angels in the exterior spandrels were designed by Henry Poole . The organ
7047-413: Was ex-navy with no previous experience as a railway worker, but no special attention was paid to this in either training or testing. It must be concluded therefore that [the driver's] training was not adequate for the task for which he was being prepared. The very favourable comments made as to his progress by his various teachers have to be viewed against the background that his teachers were working with
7134-460: Was funded between 1898 and 1908 by the "Wesleyan Methodist Twentieth Century Fund" (or the "Million Guinea Fund", as it became more commonly known), whose aim was to raise one million guineas from one million Methodists. The fund closed in 1904 having raised 1,024,501 guineas (£1,075,727). The building played host to several important events; meetings of the suffragette movement took place at Methodist Central Hall in 1914. Scenes were re-enacted in
7221-494: Was noted that the introduction of Automatic Train Protection (ATP) had been thought to be imminent at previous safety reviews. Flank protection would have increased the 'overlap' (the distance for which a train could run past the signal before fouling lines) at SN109; the desirability of doing so should have been considered by the risk assessment which had not taken place. The written instructions for Railtrack signalling centre staff at Slough were that as soon as they realised that
7308-406: Was of a slack and complacent regime, which was not alive to the potentially dire consequences of a SPAD or of the way in which signallers could take action to deal with such situations. The Health and Safety Executive 's HM Railway Inspectorate was also criticised for its inspection procedures. The then head of HSE told the Inquiry the HSE were concerned about, first, the length of time taken for
7395-622: Was particularly badly obscured by the overhead electrification equipment; it was last of all the gantry 8 signal aspects to become clearly visible to the driver of a Class 165 approaching from Paddington. All new or altered signals or which had multiple SPADs should have been reviewed for sighting issues by a 'signal sighting committee', but none had been held for signals around Paddington since Railtrack assumed responsibility for this in April 1994. An internal audit in March 1999 had reported this, but
7482-460: Was totally destroyed. The diesel fuel it was carrying was dispersed by the collision and ignited, leading to a series of fires in the wreckage, particularly in coach H near the front of the HST, which was completely burnt out. The drivers of both trains were killed, as well as 29 others (23 on the Class 165, five on the HST as a result of the impact, with a further fatality as a result of the fire), and 417 people were injured. The immediate cause of
7569-577: Was transferred to the enlarged borough. In 1966 the city was granted the right to appoint a lord mayor . The local authority is Westminster City Council, which meets at Westminster Council House (also known as Marylebone Town Hall ) and has its main offices at Westminster City Hall on Victoria Street. Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly , the borough forms part of the West Central constituency. The following table shows
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