Police sorry for inviting Croydon tram crash dead to survivors’ event
POLICE today apologised for sending letters to the seven people killed in the Croydon tram crash inviting them to a survivors’ event.
At least one grieving family was left “fuming” after receiving the letters that had been hand-addressed and posted by British Transport Police.
The force blamed “human error” and said officers had contacted each family to give prior notice that the letter had been posted in error.
The letter had been written by the wife of one of the survivors, asking if other survivors would like to meet to discuss their experiences.
BTP had forwarded it on her behalf but accidentally included the six men and one woman killed in the earlymorning derailment on November 9.
Danielle Whetter, 26, whose grand- father Philip Logan, 52, was killed in the crash, told the Croydon Advertiser: “Receiving the letter was a bit of a kick in the teeth.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’ve sorted out everything financially linked to Grandad so we weren’t expecting any letters to come with his name on. How could someone get it so wrong?
“These seven people, their faces, their names, the areas where they were from have been plastered all over the national news, how can you can get it so wrong?”
The other victims were Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, and Robert Huxley, 63, all from New Addington, and Mark Smith, 35, and Donald Collett, 62, both from Croydon.
Seventy people were on the tram, of whom 51 were injured, 16 seriously.
BTP said in a statement today: “We are working hard to ensure that everyone involved in the Croydon tram derailment is receiving the support they need and sent out letters to invite people to a forum being organised by one of the survivors. Due to human error, this list of people we provided included the bereaved families.
“As soon as this was realised, we immediately contacted each family through their specially trained officers to ensure they had warning before it arrived. We are sorry for absolutely any unnecessary hurt this may have caused them.”
It said a letter was not sent to the tram driver, Alfred Dorris. An updated report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch this week suggested he had “lost awareness” of an approaching bend, causing the tram to derail at 46mph.
The Logan family had previously endured a two-day wait before being told Mr Logan had died in the crash.
Miss Whetter, 26, said the letter was received by her grandmother, Marilyn. “My nan was quite distressed when she opened it, which is totally understandable,” she said. “She was kind of prepared, but by only about half an hour to an hour before. This is a lack of care and attention.”
The victims’ families have also received an apology from the RAIB after it failed to ensure they had seen Monday’s report before it was released to the media. An RAIB spokesman said: “Several families did not receive their copies of our interim report in the post on time.Where we were made aware that a report had not been received, we dispatched further copies.
“Unfortunately, not everyone received the report before it was published. We are sorry that this has happened.”