The crash also happened shortly after the Thames Turbo driver had qualified, after his 2 weeks of training. The trainer did not tell him about the signal and later claimed that he was "not there to teach the routes" and was "totally there to teach how to drive a Turbo". Thames Trains also had no standardised test system for drivers, and no clear pass or fail criteria. The driver had been in the Navy and had little experience on the railways, and had qualified 13 days earlier than British Rail drivers did (British Rail also did not allow new drivers to drive on difficult routes such as the Great Western Main Line between London and Bristol, on which this accident happened, until they got experience on easier routes).