Shopkeepers at Paddington may sue Railtrack

Owners of shops and restaurants in and around Paddington station are wondering whether they can sue Railtrack for loss of business in the two weeks since the train crash which killed 30 people.

Owners of shops and restaurants in and around Paddington station are wondering whether they can sue Railtrack for loss of business in the two weeks since the train crash which killed 30 people.

The absence of the majority of the west London mainline station's 60,000 daily users has meant a 30 per cent drop in takings for most businesses.

Some, such as the Paddington Bear souvenir shop on the main concourse, have seen sales plummet by 95 per cent. And even though rail services were due to resume this morning, most proprietors felt it would be weeks before business would be back to normal.

The station was virtually empty yesterday, with escalators at a standstill and "cancelled" written beside every train on the announcement board. Apart from workmen, shop assistants and an occasional passenger passing through to catch the Hammersmith and City underground, there was no one there. The usually hectic crossroad for commuters and tourists had been transformed into a ghost town. Customer information consisted of a notice about relative support centres and counselling services.

Jackie Tyson, manager of the Paddington Bear hut, generally sells around £1,200 worth of stationery, books, T-shirts and wellington boots every day, but for the past fortnight she has sold only "a few bits and pieces", sometimes amounting to a total of £10 in a day. "Normally we have thousands and thousands of people passing through and tourists getting on the trains to Bath and Windsor. It's been so quiet. There have been no Tannoys, no trains, no hustle and bustle of customers, and no one asking where to find Paddington Bear."

Others were less philosophical. At the Costa coffee shop, near platform one, the manager, Franco Gangemi, said he was fed up with the way Railtrack had failed to give accurate information about when the trains would start up again.

Shops and cafes on busy Praed Street, opposite the station, described the past two weeks as being like a holiday period. At the Luscious Low Fat Cafe, there has not been the usual flurry of morning activity as commuters kick start their day with take-away coffees. Customers who have come in mid-morning have talked of nothing but the train crash at Ladbroke Grove. "It's been the theme of the day," said Emanuel Kappas, 27, who works there. The company is considering suing Railtrack for the 30 per cent loss in takings over the last fortnight.

AF Partridge & Sons, the nearby flower shop, has suffered similar losses. Some mourners bought flowers to lay at the scene, but the steady flow of commuters buying bunches on their way home has been non-existent. However Ken Ellis, 50, who owns the shop, was unperturbed. "We've been here 90 years and we've been through nearly every dramatic event there is," he said.