THE National Railway Museum, which was prosecuted after a child's skull was fractured on one of its rides, has had its £10,000 fine halved by York Crown Court.

Health and Safety inspectors took the museum to court for failing to ensure the safety of passengers after seven-year-old Keeley Thompson's skull was fractured in two places when a mini-train overturned.

After the case the inspectors said they felt justice had been served by the original stiffer fine.

Today Keeley's mother, Amanda Thompson, said she was still planning her own legal action against the museum.

Amanda, from Maltby, near Rotherham, said Keeley's physical injuries had now healed, but she admitted the youngster was still very nervous about hurting herself.

Commenting on the court's decision to halve the fine, Amanda said the decision did not really affect her. She was awaiting reports from independent doctors before proceeding with her case against the NRM.

Speaking on behalf of the museum in court, Simon Kealey said although the £10,000 was only half the amount which could have been imposed, it still represented a significant amount of the museum's annual budget.

He referred to the museum's previously unblemished safety record and said it had spent £17,000 upgrading safety, including introducing new covered carriages and external exams for its drivers.

He said the untrained driver, who had been making his maiden trip on a new train when the accident occurred, had "slipped through the net" because he had been on holiday when the one-day training programme on the more powerful locomotive had taken place.

"The museum accepts the injury was caused to a young girl and the cause of that was the lack of training of the driver," said Mr Kealey.

"The museum takes this accident very seriously, but it is an isolated incident and it has taken measures to ensure it's unlikely ever to happen again."

Judge Paul Hoffman, who heard the appeal at York Crown Court, ruled in the museum's favour, although he accepted the accident had "undoubtedly" occurred because the train was being driven at excess speed by an inexperienced driver.

"There was, in these circumstances, a responsibility on the part of the museum to get it right because there was considerable potential for injury and several people were, in fact, injured, one of them seriously," he said.

"But the purpose of the museum is to provide entertainment and education for the public.

"They are not, as it were, a commercial organisation operating for profit and there was no wilful neglect on its part."

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