The Nuneaton rail crash occurred on 6 June 1975, on the West Coast Main Line just south of Nuneaton railway station in Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom. The crash happened when the 23:30 sleeper from London Euston to Glasgow derailed after entering a temporary speed restriction at too high a speed. Six people (four passengers and two staff) died and 38 were injured. In the subsequent inquiry, the accident was deemed to have been caused by driver error, partially due to the failure of lineside equipment warning of the speed restriction. The accident The accident occurred at approximately 01:54, as the British Rail passenger train approached Nuneaton station. The train, which was running over an hour late because of a locomotive failure further south, was composed of two Class 86 electric locomotives (nos. 86006 and 86242; both later repaired) and fifteen carriages, including twelve Mark 1 sleeping cars, two Brake Gangwayed and a Restaurant miniature buffet. Among the passengers was Minister for Agriculture Fred Peart, who would survive the crash with minor injuries. Just south of Nuneaton station, a temporary speed restriction of was in place for a distance of just over a mile because of a track remodelling scheme. The warning board was placed at the standard 'service braking distance' of a mile and a quarter before the restriction. This board should have been illuminated, but was not. The driver, John McKay, claimed that he assumed this meant the restriction had been lifted and did not need to slow the train. It was not until he saw the correctly illuminated 'commencement board' at the start of the restriction that he realized it was still in place, but by then it was too late. Despite an emergency brake application, the train entered the 20 mph restriction at an estimated and derailed on a sharply curved length of temporary track being used during the remodelling scheme. The locomotives became detached from one another; the first continued in a straight line and came to a stop halfway through the station between the platforms, but the second veered sideways, striking and then mounting the northbound platform, coming to a rest after colliding with the platform canopy. The coaches behind them derailed and zig-zagged across the tracks causing severe damage to the track and lineside structures. The first two coaches stayed mainly upright, but the next four fell on their sides, badly crushing the third,