Selby rail disaster solicitor joins Coles

Kevin Hughes, a personal injury specialist who successfully represented victims of the Selby rail disaster has joined Coles Solicitors in York.

Hughes was the lead solicitor and pursued claims for the families of four of those who died in the 2001 Selby rail disaster, which killed ten and left 82 people with serious injuries.

His past experience includes working closely with the RMT union and its members and he has dealt with many asbestos cases for railway workers and former employees at York’s Leeman Road carriage works as well as sufferers and their families in Doncaster and throughout the region.

Hughes joins Coles after five years at Thompsons Solicitors, where he had particular responsibility for injury claims on behalf of seafarers, divers and offshore workers. Before that, he headed up the York office of Pattinson and Brewer from 1991 before a stint at Bridge McFarland in Hull when the RMT moved its personal injury work there.

A former treasurer and chairman of the Hull and York branches of the brain injury trust, Headway, Hughes has joined the team at Coles’ offices in Micklegate, York, which was formerly known as personal injury specialist firm Daniels & Company. Coles bought the firm in 2010 to add to its other branches in Northallerton, Yarm, Thirsk and Settle.

Peter Gibson, Coles Solicitors’ managing director and principal solicitor, said that he was thrilled that Hughes had chosen to join the firm.

“He has already hit the ground running, picking up important and delicate work on behalf of the injured and those suffering from occupational disease. Kevin’s skills will be available through all five of our offices, giving him access to clients right across North Yorkshire and Teesside,” he said.  

Mark Dugdale