Police revealed that a bomb threat had been made on a railway line between King's Cross and Peterborough in a phone call two days before the crash. Suspicions were also raised by passengers and witnesses. I just thought, 'My God it is a bomb'. But Chief Constable Paul Acres of Hertfordshire police later said the explosion theory had been ruled out after initial investigations. The wreckage was extensively searched by the anti-terrorist branch of New Scotland Yard together with explosive ordnance disposal experts and it became clear the crash had not been caused by a bomb.
Vandals frequently target trains.
Children are often the culprits, typically placing obstructions on the track, hurling stones at passing trains or dropping objects from bridges on to them. The true extent of the danger is revealed by figures which suggest that more than half of all train accidents in 1999 were caused by sabotage. However, the fact that the rear sections of the train left the track and not the front ones suggested that it was probably not the cause. Witnesses also said the train did not seem to hit anything before crashing. A failure in the axles or wheels of the train then seemed the most likely cause.