It was estimated to have cost the industry pounds 173m, but most of this fell on Railtrack which had to pay BR pounds 140m in compensation.Largely as a result of the strike, both the number of passenger journeys and the amount of freight carried fell by over 5 per cent. CHRISTIAN WOLMAR Transport Correspondent The controversy over rail finances was highlighted yesterday with the publication of British Rail accounts for 1994/95 which show the organisation made a profit of pounds 362m, due to a government subsidy of over pounds 2bn.As these are the first accounts to cover the period after BR finances were reorganised in preparation for privatisation, they are not comparable with any previous year's figures and offer few pointers to BR's performance. He is alleged to have used a home computer to gain access to a USAF computer on which were stored messages from American agents in North Korea at the time of the nuclear crisis last year.US authorities logged 69 security breaches and said they were among the most serious they had experienced and had compromised several systems.In a second case heard yesterday, a former hotel reservations clerk was accused of subverting the computer system belonging to the multi-national Marriott chain, stealing pounds 11,000 and causing pounds 130,000 damage.Aleric Owen Linden, of Sheffield, was remanded on bail until 1 August by Bow Street magistrates.. He was charged under the Computer Misuse Act, which allows for the prosecution of hackers even if the machine they have infiltrated is not in the UK.He was arrested this year by British police after a 13-month search by specialist USAF investigators. TIM KELSEY An 18-year-old schoolboy appeared before Bow Street magistrates yesterday charged with unlawfully gaining access to a series of American defence computers. Richard Pryce, who was 16 at the time of the alleged offences, is accused of accessing key US Air Force systems and a network owned by Lockheed, the missile and aircraft manufacturers.Mr Pryce, of Colindale, north- west London, who did not enter a plea on any of the 12 specimen charges brought against him, was remanded on bail to 11 September.

Mr Reid rejected that argument and the DSS has now apologised and for delay, and agreed to recommend to the Secretary of State that a copy of the report be released to the complainant.In a third case the Ombudsman had to intervene to force the Scottish Environment Department to reveal the value of a contract for an airborne survey, which had been withheld under the code exemption relating to "effective management".Official figures have shown that few people used the code in its first year, probably because it was introduced with almost no publicity.Appeals have to be routed through an MP.. When the Ombudsman intervened the DSS maintained that the report on his status was "subject to legal professional privilege" because it had been supplied by a barrister. Mr Reid said the information was in the public domain already. He criticised a delay of 16 weeks in dealing with the request.Mr Reid said the Department of Social Security was wrong to refuse a request from a man about his National Insurance position The Department gave him no reasons for refusing. His report, published yesterday, criticised the Highways Agency, part of the Transport Department, for refusing to disclose its correspondence with the European Commission over an assessment of environmental damage which would be caused by a road-widening scheme.When the Ombudsman intervened, the department said correspondence with the Commission was confidential. STEPHEN WARD Three government departments were criticised by the Parliamentary Ombudsdman yesterday for covering up information they should have released under a new freedom of information code. Under the code, introduced last April, almost all public bodies and departments are obliged to answer questions from the public.

They can refuse only if the information is "internal information and advice", is commercially sensitive or would interfere with "effective management and operation of the public service."The ombudsman, William Reid, hears appeals against refusals. We would not have the time that we presently take to treat patients.". I would want to say that you can buy a 14inch colour or a 20inch colour, with pounds 100 or pounds 250." He estimates private charges can be five times those of the NHS.But Mr Moszczynski said that to take on new NHS fee-paying patients would "conveyor-beltise" the practice "It would turn the pressure on We would have a local conveyor-belt. 'New patients' has been changed over the last year or so to include those who haven't been for two years."His patients, he says, deserve freedom of choice "It's like if you walk into a TV shop and there's only one TV for sale at pounds 500.