PASSENGERS on board the train from Gatwick to Hastings told last night how they feared a repeat of the Paddington disaster.

As passengers were comforted by rail staff and emergency workers, they spoke of their shock that another crash could have happened less than a fortnight after the previous collision.

Father-of-two David Sherwood, 42, of Whitbread Close, Eastbourne, was on his way home from Gatwick Airport where he works as a luggage handler.

Speaking from the scene, he said: "There was an almighty thud and bang and I thought, 'Oh no'.

"I just said to the other people, 'I think we've hit another train'.

"It's frightening. After the last one at Paddington I thought, 'Are we going to get off or not?'"

The 17.53 passenger train started from Gatwick instead of London Victoria because of "operational difficulties" further in towards London. It had left Gatwick at 6.32pm.

Miriam Gray, of Hastings, was travelling home in a carriage with eight other

people.

She had joined the Hastings-bound service at Gatwick after flying to Newcastle for a business meeting yesterday.

She said: "I was leafing through a magazine when suddenly there was this almighty jolt. The lights flickered and went down and then it stopped and everybody looked at each other.

"The lights went off completely and it was pitch black so everybody looked out of the windows to see what was going on.

"The intercom came on saying, 'Nobody leave the train, please stay where you are', but somebody said, 'I don't care - I'm going out'.

"I told him not to do that because he might get hit by something so we all walked in the dark to the back of the train, which was still by the station, and got out.

"In the light of what has just happened at Paddington it was very frightening.

"When it was jolting and juddering it was really scary but once the train had stopped we knew it was going to be okay and everybody started talking."

Warren Harvey, 18, of Winchelsea Road, Eastbourne, was travelling in the front carriage which bore the brunt of the impact with the empty train.

The Sussex University student said: "It was all over in a matter of seconds. I was jolted when it stopped and shaken up a bit and our carriage was derailed - it was leaning about five degrees.

"In the first carriage of the other train all the windows were smashed and all the seats broken and glass strewn over the carriage.

"We just checked to see if the driver was okay and walked back through the train to get off.

"Fortunately it happened at this time of the day and was quite empty and it was going at a slow speed because it had just left the station.

"If it was going any faster there could have been more casualties - or if it had been at peak time."

Mr Harvey, a first year maths and computer science student, said there were about five other people in his carriage and none was injured.

But he added: "There was one man who was sitting on the side where it collided, and the light fitting came down and nearly hit him.

"If they were going any faster than they were there would have been casualties. I'm still in shock now."

Phil Erridge, 33, of Langley Point, Eastbourne, caught the Hastings train from Gatwick where he works as an engineer.

He said: "We were just pulling out of the station when there was a huge thud and jolt. The lights went off, apart from the emergency lights, and then all the lights went off.

"But people were really calm and then the guard came down with a torch and led us off.

"I phoned up my wife as soon as I had got off just in case she was worried."

Brian Guy, 41, an export manager of Mount Pleasant Road, Hastings, joined the train at Three Bridges.

He said: "It was the train I usually get but it was running about 40 minutes late.

"It was just pulling out of Lewes station when it hit another train.

"There was a loud bang and it stopped and the lights went out.

"Everybody reacted pretty well. They just looked out of the window and wondered what was happening.

"Some people came through from carriages further forward and started to get off near the platform.

"The first thing I did was phone my wife because I had already phoned her once to tell her I would be late and I didn't want her to worry.

"It was over very quickly but it was only afterwards I thought how lucky we were."

Maureen Kavanagh, who founded the Safety on Trains Action Group after losing her only son, Peter, in the 1997 Southall rail disaster, said she was horrified by last night's accident.

She said: "If the train had been further down the line and doing more than 15mph it could have been quite different. It is frightening.

"It is just another example of the dangers of not having ATP (Automatic Train Protection).

"I really believe there is going to be more loss of life if the Government does not do something quickly."

At Lewes station passengers on the Hastings-bound train and others whose services had been cancelled in the wake of the crash were looked after by rail staff and emergency services staff.

They were given coffee and then taken on to their destinations by fleets of minibuses and taxis.

Firefighters at the scene used heat-seeking cameras to check the sides of the track immediately after the collision to check that no one had staggered or fallen from the passenger train.

A brigade spokesman said: "We also needed to enable passengers to safely evacuate and emergency personnel to carefully access the scene of the collision."

Dozens of passengers arrived at the station to

be told all trains had been cancelled.

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