THIS is the CCTV image – produced in court this week – which shows that Southern railways is wrong when it says driver-only operation is safe.
The image shows a woman whose hand was trapped in a door on a First Great Western service at Hayes & Harlington station on 25 July 2016. She was dragged 60 feet along the station as the train set off, until she finally managed to pull herself free and, magistrates heard, fell on the platform, suffering severe bruising and ‘injuries consistent with falling onto concrete’.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, said: ‘This sad case shows that what we have been saying is right, and what the company is saying is completely wrong. Southern says DOO is safe. It isn’t.
‘Southern says the traction interlocking system, which is supposed to prevent a train leaving the station if something – such as a bag, briefcase, shopping bag, wheelchair, child’s buggy, or, as here, the hand or arm of a passenger trying to get on or off the train – is trapped in the carriage doors, always works. It is, the company says, a failsafe system. This picture shows it isn’t.’
Whelan added: ‘The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said that we could no longer rely on the technology that allegedly used to make DOO safe. They stated that we must do a second check. No company, including GTR/Southern, or the ORR, has, despite repeated requests from us, been able to explain, or give any guidance on how this can be done.’
The court heard: ‘The incident occurred when a passenger was running to get on the train and got her hand stuck in the door as she was trying to get in. The victim was stuck in this door. As a result, she was pulled along, running with the train, whilst her hand was trapped. She subsequently managed to free her hand and fell over quite abruptly.’
Whelan said: ‘This is the danger, for every passenger, of DOO. And that is why we need a guard on every train, to check the doors, and passengers are safe, before the train leaves the station.’
• ASLEF pickets at London Bridge yesterday hit back at government claims that it is not provoking their Southern rail safety strikes. John, an ASLEF rep, told News Line: ‘It’s disingenuous of Grayling (Tory Transport Secretary) to say this is a private dispute between a private company and ourselves when he is the one who prevents the company from making a deal by the terms of their agreement.’
John explained: ‘GTR (Southern rail owners) operates as a management concession. It is not allowed to take any decisions without taking advice from the government. That’s why every compromise that we have offered has been initially welcomed by the company but then rejected as soon as they’ve spoken to the DfT (Department for Transport).
‘They never say it’s to do with the DfT but as soon as they come back from it they say there is some reason they can’t agree. It’s pretty widely known that the DfT are the real puppetmasters. No-one can trust the DfT when they say they are not trying to break the unions.’
Yesterday was the second day of the three-day strike by Southern rail drivers this week. There is no strike today, but the third day of strike action is tomorrow.
