The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords against a ruling that it must answer a multi-million pound damages claim arising from the Paddington rail crash.
A report said the HSE had argued in the high court and the court of appeal that the claim by Thames Trains, alleging a breach of a duty of care to railway passengers, should be struck out.
Thirty-one people died in the rail disaster in 1999.
