BBC presenter back on air after train crash injury

BBC Radio London presenter Jo Good has returned to her show two weeks after suffering four fractures to her face in the Bedfordshire train crash.

The crash near Elstow, near Bedford on 19 June killed East Midlands Railway driver Shaun Burton and left 162 people injured, with 102 – including Good – needing hospital treatment.

Speaking on her Late Night Jo show on Friday night, Good, shared her experience and also thanked the emergency services and a train guard who managed the evacuation.

Good had been travelling back from an event in Market Harborough to London St Pancras when her carriage was hit from behind by the London-bound express train, causing it to partially roll.

After her return to air, Sara David, editor of BBC Radio London said: "We are so relieved to have Jo back on air doing what she does best.

"All of the team at Radio London and her listeners have been wishing her well. We are so utterly grateful she's okay."

When the collision happened, Good was thrown from her seat and hit her face, causing the factures.

Recalling the immediate aftermath, she told listeners: "In movies, there's always screaming and high drama. There wasn't any. It was silent actually, people in the deepest shock."

She said her phone and those belonging to other passengers began sending out messages saying "you have been in a crash" along with a siren.

Good described being on the floor of the carriage with items landing on her before a "very, very, very brave guard" arrived to manage the evacuation.

Because the carriage had partially rolled in a remote location, passengers faced a jump down when disembarking and had to wait in a nearby field, she said.

The collision left the line blocked and services severely disrupted, with the train remaining at the site for over a week.

Good opened her show on Friday by praising the "extraordinary" response of NHS staff at Bedford Hospital and University College Hospital in London, where she was treated for her facial injuries.

She said many doctors and nurses had rushed to the hospitals off-shift, while others had returned from annual leave after seeing the incident on the evening news.

"I just cannot praise them highly enough," Good said.

"They said they'd trained for this for 11 years... and they said, 'we never thought we'd have to do it, to practice it'. But it was like clockwork."

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is continuing its investigation into the full circumstances of the crash.

It is known that the express train passed a red signal shortly before crashing into the stationary train, which had been travelling from Nottingham.

Good said a series of circumstantial decisions altered her experience of the crash, comparing the sequence of events to a "sliding doors" scenario.

"That's really what our lives are like," she said.

"I took a train that I wouldn't have taken. I took a train that was an earlier train than the one I was meant to be taking. I sat in a carriage that was a safer carriage. All of these things that are sliding door moments."

She added that the "near-death experience" had shifted her perspective on life.

"The end result is that life is so precious... and it's made me realise I need to prioritise my friends," Good added.

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