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Clapham Junction rail crash

1988 disasters in the United Kingdom1988 in LondonAccidents and incidents involving Network SouthEastDecember 1988 events in the United KingdomEngvarB from August 2014
History of the London Borough of WandsworthRailway accidents and incidents in LondonRailway accidents in 1988Train collisions in EnglandTransport in the London Borough of Wandsworth
Clapham Junction 1988 incident 2 geograph 3149688 by Ben Brooksbank
Clapham Junction 1988 incident 2 geograph 3149688 by Ben Brooksbank

The Clapham Junction railway crash occurred on the morning of 12 December 1988, when a crowded British Rail passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal just south of Clapham Junction railway station in London, England, and subsequently sideswiped an empty train travelling in the opposite direction. A total of 35 people died in the collision, while 484 were injured.The collision was the result of a signal failure caused by a wiring fault. New wiring had been installed, but the old wiring had been left in place and not adequately secured. An independent inquiry chaired by Anthony Hidden, QC found that the signalling technician responsible had not been told that his working practices were wrong, and his work had not been inspected by an independent person. He had also performed the work during his 13th consecutive seven-day workweek. Hidden was critical of the health and safety culture within British Rail at the time, and his recommendations included ensuring that work was independently inspected and that a senior project manager be made responsible for all aspects of any major, safety-critical project such as re-signalling work. British Rail was fined £250,000 for violations of health and safety law in connection with the accident.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Clapham Junction rail crash (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Clapham Junction rail crash
Clapham Memorial Bridge, London Clapham Junction (London Borough of Wandsworth)

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N 51.4571 ° E -0.1744 °
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Clapham Memorial Bridge

Clapham Memorial Bridge
SW18 2TA London, Clapham Junction (London Borough of Wandsworth)
England, United Kingdom
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Clapham Junction 1988 incident 2 geograph 3149688 by Ben Brooksbank
Clapham Junction 1988 incident 2 geograph 3149688 by Ben Brooksbank
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Nearby Places

St Mark's, Battersea Rise
St Mark's, Battersea Rise

St Mark's, Battersea Rise, is a Victorian Grade II* listed Anglican church located in Clapham Junction in London. The church was designed by William White and built from 1872 to 1874 in a Geometric Middle-pointed, 13th Century Gothic style using yellow bricks with red brick dressings and diapering. Inside, the nave comprises four bays with north aisles, a tower at the south-west corner supporting a wooden belfry and a shingled spire. Concrete piers with naturalistic stone-carved capitals were produced by Harry Hems. The interior floor is tiled. The choir stalls, pulpit and font were built to White's designs. The altar is raised on a stone plinth behind low brass rails. At the east end, the ambulatory descends to the crypt.After a declining congregation and a dilapidated church building, the parish recovered as the result of a church plant in 1987 from Holy Trinity Brompton, led by Pastor Paul Perkin, his wife Christine and a group of about 50 followers. Through donations from the congregation, building works have been undertaken, with a new welcome hall and extended meeting hall opened in 2007. St Mark's Church has been described as conservative and evangelical and was the subject of an article by The Guardian newspaper in 2012, Money becomes new church battleground. The article describes a "bitter power struggle within the CofE and the wider Anglican communion" on conservative issues such as homosexuality and the ordination of women priests. Boutflower Road, which runs to the east of the church, is named for Henry Boutflower Verdon, the church's first vicar-designate who died, young, in 1879, seven years before the construction of the road as part of Alfred Heaver's St John's Park property development.

The Alchemist, Battersea
The Alchemist, Battersea

The Alchemist is a former pub at 225 St John's Hill, Battersea, London, that was controversially demolished in May 2015 after over 100 years in business.It was originally called The Fishmongers' Arms, and was built in 1854.The pub closed in 2013, and was demolished in 2015 by a developer hoping to extend the building and build a block of flats. Wandsworth Council regarded the demolition having taken place without planning permission, and called it a "very serious breach" of council rules, and "unjustified". The council ordered developer Udhyam Amim to rebuild the pub and restore it to its appearance prior to demolition, but a year later this had not been carried out and the developer was seeking retrospective approval to demolish the building and replace it with six apartments, along with retail and commercial space.The demolition was compared to that of the Carlton Tavern in Kilburn, north London, which was demolished in April the same year. The Carlton Tavern was subsequently rebuilt and re-opened following a community campaign and planning appeals.In July 2018 the building was restored. In October that year its owners applied for planning permission to make the building into a shop, office or food establishment, but planners rejected the application, ruling that the change of use would "result in the loss of a public house of historic and community value". This rejection was later appealed and the building's classification was changed to D2, "assembly and leisure".