London Subway Officials Quit Over Fire Criticism

The two top men running London’s subway system resigned today hours before the government released a report blaming lax safety standards for a subway fire that killed 31 people last year.

The report said that subway management “did not guard against the unpredictability of fire” and that staff response to the Nov. 18, 1987, blaze was “uncoordinated, haphazard and untrained.”

Dr. Tony Ridley, chairman and chief executive of the London Underground, announced his resignation this morning. Sir Keith Bright, chairman of London Regional Transport, the controlling body, quit Wednesday night. Bright had been chairman and chief executive of the transport agency since 1982.

Transport Secretary Paul Channon presented the report to the House of Commons on the government-ordered inquiry into the fire at King’s Cross station, the subway system’s busiest station.

During the 91-day inquiry, the board was criticized over safety standards and Bright was criticized for appearing to promote the theory that the fire was started by an arsonist.

Police and forensic scientists said they believed the fire was started by a lighted match or cigarette dropped by a smoker onto a wooden escalator, which ignited grease-soaked trash underneath.

Flames raced up the escalator into the ticket lobby. Following the blaze, smoking was banned throughout the subway.

In the report, attorney Desmond Fennell made 157 recommendations to improve the subway, urging it to “institute a managed safety program.” He said nobody had overall responsibility for safety at the time of the fire.

Ridley called the subway “one of the safest forms of transport” and criticized the 250-page report as an “emotive document.”