A GRIEVING son has spoken of his disgust that, on the same day Network Rail accepted responsibility for a crash which killed his mother, the firm's former boss was given a knighthood at Buckingham Palace.

George Masson, from Castlemilk, Glasgow, said the honour should be stripped from Sir John Armitt, who was chief executive of Network Rail (NR) at the time of the 2007 crash in Grayrigg, Cumbria which killed Margaret Masson, 84, and injured 88.

Sir John was knighted on Wednesday, the same day Mr Masson travelled to Lancaster to hear Network Rail lawyers admit responsibility for the crash.

Mr Masson, 62, said: "This stinks. He doesn't deserve it. The safety was non-existent. They were putting cash before lives.

"He must have known what was going on with the corners they were cutting. I was an engineer for 30 years. I wouldn't do a job without the right tools. He shouldn't be getting a knighthood. It should be taken off him."

Sir John, who left NR six months after the crash, received his honour for services to engineering.

But engineering maintenance was described as a "shambles" on the west coast mainline in Cumbria at the time of the crash.

Rail Maritime and Transport union leader Bob Crow said: "It cannot be right that those who presided over a culture of cuts to staffing and essential work are rewarded with a knighthood on the same day that the company has been forced to plead guilty to major health and safety failures."

NR is facing an unlimited fine when it faces sentence for the crash at Preston Crown Court on April 2.