A SWINDON solicitor has helped a businesswoman who escaped uninjured in the Ladbroke Grove railway disaster gain £108,500 in damages.

Thirty-one people, including Swindon computer programmer David Roberts, 35, and Bryan Tompson, 61, of Ampney Crucis, near Cirencester, died when two passenger trains collided near Paddington on October 5, 1999.

Huw Ponting of Swindon-based solicitors Thring Townsend acted for Mandy Martin, 32, who travelled every weekday from her home in Gloucestershire to London, where she worked as a project manager.

Ms Martin sued the insurance company which covers the railway industry because of the trauma and financial loss as a result of the rail accident.

Mr Ponting said: "She suffered little or no physical injury but the psychological trauma was so significant that she has been unable to travel on a train since and has to relocate closer to her location of work in London."

He said he acted in the case because he was directly involved in the public inquiry into the tragedy as a member of the Ladbroke Grove Steering Group. His firm was one of six elected to co-ordinate the claims of victims from across the country.