Edinburgh man died on London Underground tracks after being run over by four trains
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Brian Mitchell, 72, was killed in the incident at Stratford Station on Boxing Day 2023 after he fell onto the tracks, before being struck by a train.
Shortly before 2pm, Mr Mitchell got off a train at the station and sat on a platform bench for 48 minutes. He then stood up and stumbled forwards, falling onto the tracks. Around five minutes later, he was struck by an arriving train, which then stopped as normal in the platform.
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Hide AdThree further trains passed over where he was lying before London Underground staff finally suspended services.
Mr Mitchell was found to have been fatally injured when the emergency services arrived at the scene.
An investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) found there were no other passengers or staff present on the platform when he fell – and the driver of the first train did not see him.
A post-mortem examination found he had a blood alcohol concentration of 272 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood - more than three times above the drink-drive limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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Hide AdThe report states: “The consequences of the accident were made more severe because the operator of the second inbound train to arrive at the platform also did not see the passenger, while the operator of the third inbound train saw something when they were arriving at the platform, but did not recognise what they saw as being a person.
“The fourth inbound train was not stopped by a customer service assistant who was present on the platform when it was entering the station, even though the assistant was by now aware that a person was on the track.
“Although the operator of the fourth inbound train had independently recognised that there was a person on the track, they did not stop their train.
“The train operators working the trains in the outbound direction were not aware of the passenger because the passenger was underneath their respective trains before they departed.”
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Hide AdLilli Matson, chief safety officer for Transport for London – which is responsible for London Underground – said its “thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Mitchell.”
She continued: “We welcome the recommendations from the RAIB’s independent investigation into this incident, which align with the findings of our own internal investigation, and work has already begun to implement them.
“We will always strive to learn from incidents and improve operational safety, including by ensuring relevant regulatory bodies are immediately informed, carrying out thorough and extensive internal investigations and prioritising taking action on any recommendations from any review.
“While serious injuries on our network are rare, we are undertaking a huge range of work to eradicate such incidents and make the network even safer for everyone.”