Laurence Marks was a 25-year-old journalist when he was asked to cover the biggest catastrophe in the City of London since the blitz. That day would change his life forever

Friday 28 February 1975 was the day that changed my life. At half past eight that morning, I was sitting down to write a newspaper feature. At 9.35am, I was standing in the press enclosure outside Moorgate station.

I was 25 years young, a freelance journalist who covered occasional news stories for a Fleet Street agency, but I had never been sent to report on one quite like the Moorgate train disaster. My brief was simple: find out what, who, when and how. We knew the “where”, and when I arrived there were just 10 journalists cordoned off next to the underground station entrance. Half an hour later came the first of the day’s many press conferences. I had my shorthand notebook at the ready.