AN MP is challenging maintenance company Jarvis over a suggestion that it put jobs before safety in the wake of the Potters Bar rail crash.

Durham City MP Gerry Steinberg said it "beggars belief", and accused the company's boss of trying to intimidate him.

It follows a Commons motion attacking the company's safety record, signed by 40 MPs, including Mr Steinberg.

The motion criticised Jarvis, which is at the centre of investigations over the damaged rail points, which are said to have caused the Potters Bar crash.

The Commons motion noted that the company had been fined £500,000 for "putting rail passengers and workers at risk" after derailments in 1999.

In a letter to the MP, the Chief Executive of Jarvis, Alan Cunningham, attacked the MP for "jumping to conclusions".

He said: ''It is particularly annoying to read comment from people who know little about our company and our people."

Mr Cunningham said "uninformed comment serves only to damage the morale" of the dedicated workforce.

In his letter to the MP he stated: "It may also not have dawned on you that any damage to our company could also affect our employees, many of whom are your constituents."

Mr Steinberg replied: "This beggars belief. Are you suggesting that employment should take precedence over health and safey issues and the safety of the travelling public?"

He added: ''I am appalled that you have the audacity to intimidate me, and insinuate that my stance is detrimental to the employment prospects of constituents."