Pride of Britain award for fatal train crash GP

9 hours ago

Matthew LockwoodBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

News image — Dr Eleanor Prior, who was injured in the fatal Bedford train crash said it felt like a "war zone"

Pride of Britain awards Eleanor Prior is standing in what appears to be a family living room.
Colourful triangular bunting decorations are strung across the room, suggesting a child-friendly or celebratory environment. There is a fireplace in the background and a white shelving unit with toys stored in it. — Dr Eleanor Prior, who was injured in the fatal Bedford train crash said it felt like a "war zone"

A GP injured in a fatal train crash said she feels "honoured and lucky" to have received a Pride of Britain award.

Dr Eleanor Prior, 41, was in the front carriage of the London-bound service that crashed into a stationary intercity train near Bedford in June, killing driver Shaun Burton, 60, and leaving 162 people injured.

The force of the impact threw Prior about eight metres along the aisle, but despite this, she went on to care for the passengers around her and continued to triage patients when the emergency services arrived.

Prior said she wanted people to "remember and recognise" that there are victims who are still in hospital, in rehabilitation or at home "who will be suffering".

She said she was typing on her phone when, "the next thing I knew I had a carpet in my face, with no idea how I got there."

"I remember seeing smoke and it was very quiet, with everything happening in slow motion", she added.

Several of the most seriously injured casualties were in Prior's carriage, including one woman with a severe spinal injury who was struggling to breathe.

Since the crash, Prior has undergone operations on her broken right hand and received treatment for injuries to her foot, knee and back.

She still has no grip in her fingers, although she is trying to return to work.

Despite her own injuries, she was one of the first to call the emergency services and began assessing the condition of those around her.

She used her mouth to tighten belts that were being used as tourniquets.

Once the emergency services arrived, Prior worked alongside them.

She also refused an ambulance so that someone else could take it, walking across a field on a suspected broken foot to her husband's car instead.

PA Media Two damaged trains, the front of one purple train is crushed into the end of another, with severe impact damage visible around the cab area. — The collision happened after one train stopped and a second train passed a red signal and struck it from behind

In accepting the award, Prior, a mother of two young daughters, wanted people not to forget "how amazing the emergency services were that day".

Passenger Mel Ross said: "If it hadn't been for Eli, people would have died."

Myles Sadler, whose girlfriend Maigon was helped by the GP, added: "Eli is a hero in our eyes."

In October, a report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch revealed that a train involved in the crash had accelerated past a red signal that was rarely on.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) found the signal had not displayed a red light to any train before the incident.

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