On the anniversary of the 1975 Tube disaster which killed 43 people a campaigner is set to install a memorial for the victims.
Victims of the Moorgate Tube disaster will be remembered forever after campaigners secured permission to erect a memorial in Finsbury Square.
Now campaigners are aiming to raise the �6,000 needed to pay for the stone memorial, which will have the names of the 43 people who died in the disaster on February 28, 1975. The memorial will be 3ft by 4ft and sit on the City Road side of Finsbury Square, 450 yards north of Moorgate station.
Ken Thrower, whose father, Thomas of Avenell Road, Highbury, was killed in the crash, has fought for a memorial for several years.
He said: “I spent time writing to Tony Blair and other important people, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. Then I managed to get in touch with Richard Jones. He had succeeded in getting a memorial up north for the [1986] Lockington crash.”
Mr Jones, from Bridlington in Yorkshire, is a disaster expert and published a book on the Lockington crash.
He said: “Since I was 11 years old I have been interested in disasters, how they’re handled, how people think about them. I specialise in forgotten disasters, you could say.
“Ken’s daughter called me up and said: ‘We’ve seen what you did for Lockington, can you help?’ I started making calls right away.”
Campaigners hope to raise money through private donations and a charity auction. Arsenal and Fulham football clubs have donated signed shirts to the fundraising efforts.
Mr Jones, 31, who plans to write a book on the Moorgate crash, said: “I’ve spoken to a few people so far and found lots of Arsenal fans were on board, but I really need more people to come forward with their stories.”
Mr Thrower, 70, who grew up in Highbury, said: “The Moorgate crash was the worst disaster on the underground apart from the bombing we had in July a few years ago. I didn’t see my father in hospital until three days after it happened.”
Forty-three people died and 80 were injured when the Northern Line train crashed into a wall at the end of the tunnel. The cause is still a source of controversy.
n Anyone with information on the Moorgate tragedy can contact Mr Jones on shipwreckdata@yahoo.co.uk.
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