Memorial for rail crash victims

Train driver Stanley Martin died in the crash

Families of victims killed in a level crossing rail crash in Berkshire in 2004 have attended a memorial service.

Train driver Stanley Martin, of Devon, and four passengers from Somerset, Wiltshire and Berkshire died after the train derailed when it hit a car.

The driver whose car was on the crossing also died in the crash that left 71 rail passengers injured.

Victims' families attended the service at Sulhamstead Abbots Church, near the scene at Ufton Nervet on Sunday.

They also attended a private trackside vigil, attended only by those involved in, or affected by, the crash.

Aid row

The others who died were Emily Webster, 14, of Moretonhampstead, Devon, Anjanette Rossi, 38, and her daughter, Louella Main, nine, of Speen, Berkshire, Barry Strevens, 55, from Wells, Somerset and Leslie Charles Matthews, 72, of Warminster, Wiltshire.

Car driver Brian Drysdale was also killed during the crash.

A Rail Safety and Standards Board report into the accident, published in July this year, said the underlying cause of the accident was seen as "lying beyond the direct control of the railway industry".

An inquest into the crash had been due to open last month but was postponed over a row as to whether the victims' families should receive legal aid.