THE driver who battled to stop a 95mph Glasgow train going down an embankment has told of the terrifying moment the engine leapt into the air as it passed over points at Lambrigg, near Kendal.

Iain Black, who stayed at the controls as all nine 50-tonne carriages of the Virgin Pendolino tilting train careered off the track near Grayrigg, killing an 84-year-old Glasgow woman, described the behaviour of the train as being like a "violent bucking bronco."

Mr Black, of Dumbarton, was trapped in his cab for two hours with broken bones in his neck, but still managed to call his girlfriend to stop all other trains on the track.

His partner, Janice Duff, 29, is a train manager with Virgin and Mr Black, 46, recalled: "My worst nightmare was another train hitting us. Jan is a trained manager with Virgin, so I phoned her because I knew she would know how to get traffic stopped. I just went into automatic mode.

"There were points where I blacked out. But I remember one point when I had been pushed towards the windscreen of the train and had a severe pain in my neck.

"I knew then I had severely damaged my neck. That was the worst pain."

Miss Duff said: "I knew I had to keep calm and keep talking to him until the emergency services got to him."

Mr Black added: "I was losing a lot of blood, but I knew not to move because of the neck injury."

Doctors at the Royal Preston Hospital have told Mr Black it could be 12 to 24 months before he recovers completely and he has to wear a halo brace.

He was hailed a hero by Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson after he stayed at the controls.

But Mr Black insisted: "I don't see it as an act of heroism. It's my job to drive the train."