No more passing the buck, Mr Byers, say the angry residents of a town in shock

Most of the people who died in Potters Bar on Friday afternoon were not from the town. The 12.45 from King's Cross was not supposed to stop here on its way to Cambridge. That did not stop the people of this community just north of the M25 feeling a sense of loss yesterday, a sense of violation, and dazed amazement that such an extraordinary, violent event should happen at the centre of things.

Most rail accidents take place away from the crowds on isolated stretches of track. This was different. The carriage that still lay on its side, propping up the roof of the platform at Potters Bar station, could be seen clearly by anyone who wanted to look. They just had to stand by the slatted fence behind the Old Manor pub and stare. Many locals did that yesterday, despite the best efforts of pub staff to get them to leave.

Others stood in the street and watched as rescue workers and police in fluorescent jackets came and went. "I don't know what there is to say," said one young woman who would only identify herself as a mother. "I don't want attention. I don't know why I came. I just had to do something to acknowledge what had happened."

Throughout the morning local people approached the police cordon and asked, reluctantly, to be let through to collect their vehicles from the station car park. "I don't really want to go in there at all but I suppose I've got to," said Andy Smart, 32, dreading what he would see. A black Porsche and other uncollected cars were taken away on lorries in the afternoon to be impounded until the owners were ready to collect them. The car park was needed for a heavy crane to lift the derailed carriages, which would itself take a day to erect.

The local vicar distributed leaflets inviting people to a service of prayer and reflection today at 6pm. Churches in Potters Bar and South Mimms will be open for three hours before that. A less reflective, furious local resident gave out photocopied leaflets accusing Stephen Byers of crocodile tears.

"The people of Potters Bar don't want your sympathy," it said in an open letter to the minister. "We want action and we mean action, not superficial words or indecisiveness or your usual passing the buck." It was signed: "Yours sincerely the nurses, the local beat bobby, the people of Potters Bar and more importantly the injured and the dead."

Mr Byers came and went by ministerial car without meeting locals. "Are they taking him to Pentonville Prison?" shouted a white-haired man as he departed.

Some people came to lay flowers by the police tape and the sign that said "Road Ahead Closed" next to a block of retirement flats in the centre of town. Andi Perversi, a personal trainer who helped to pull people from the wreckage, was among them. "Deepest Sympathies to all," said the card with his bouquet. "We tried our hardest."

Another bouquet was laid by staff at Another Level hairdressing salon a few steps from where the accident took place. Angela Chesworth, 28, a nail technician at the salon, ran out of the door when she heard the noise on Friday. "There was a huge crash. Somebody said the bridge was collapsing. Then it was silent. Scary silent. Twilight Zone silent."

Because she was in a white uniform Ms Chesworth managed to make it into the station to help the emergency services even as others were turned away. "I just spoke to the people who were lying there injured, holding hands with them. One woman's mobile phone rang as she lay there. It was her husband. I told him she would be all right. They took her away on a stretcher. An Oriental lady died in front of me. I can't remember the faces of the others who were lying there but I can't forget her."

Ms Chesworth was back at work yesterday in a salon busy with people who wanted to talk about what had happened. "There are so many gossipmongers around. It makes me angry," she said. "They say there were screams, and lots of kids about. It wasn't like that but unless you were there you don't know."

She also confronted what she called crash tourists who had come with cameras to record the scene. "They're disgusting. I can understand people wanting to come and have a look and go home again, but one woman was just standing there for three hours. What was she looking at?"