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Drivers trapped as carriage door jams

21st November 1996
Page 6
Page 6, 21st November 1996 — Drivers trapped as carriage door jams
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by Jane Sayer and Miles Brignall • Drivers on the Le Shuttle train that caught fire this week were trapped inside the smokefilled drivers' carriage for 15 minutes while Eurotunnel staff struggled to get the doors open.

Wilson Mawhitmey, who works for Ti Hood, based in Crumlin, County Antrim, says: "The Eurotunnel staff were pushing the buttons, but nothing was happening.. .the smoke was so thick you couldn't see a foot in front of you, but at one stage I heard a thumping noise as if someone was trying to kick the doors."

Mawhinney adds: "At one point I didn't think I was going to make it...if we had been rescued five minutes later it would have been a very different ."

Mawhinney's boss is unsure if he will continue to send his 10-strong fleet through the Chunnel: "It depends how the drivers feel, but its obvious that Wilson will be very wary about using it."

Douglas Howard, a driver with Bing Transport of Banknock, Bonnybridge, Scotland, was recovering in a hotel in Calais after his Renault Magnum was completely burnt out.

Steven Piper, a driver for Felixstowebased Barber International was another driver who feared for his life, but escaped with smoke inhalation.

But a spokesman for BOC Spalding, which had an empty vehicle on the train, said he felt the emergency procedures had worked and he saw no reason not to carry on using the tunnel.

Eurotunnel says it is pleased with its evacuation procedures. Fabrice Vetmarucci, Le Shuttle Freight's European sales director, says there is no suggestion that the open-lattice-type carriages were to blame for the spread of the fire.


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