Brave Tegan is a true inspiration to accident survivors
The amazing story of Tegan Stapleton, who was saved from death on the electrified line at Bournemouth station in July 2018 ( RAIL 885), prompted me to write to share with readers my own experience of falling onto an electrified railway line and surviving (obviously).
Firstly, I should like to pay tribute to Tegan’s tremendous courage, both in her fight to recover physically and psychologically from her terrible injuries, and also in returning to the scene of the accident at Bournemouth.
I must also commend John Stanley and his South Western Railway colleagues for their superb, swift response to (and successful intervention in) Tegan’s immediate life-threatening situation, in rescuing her from the live rail.
It was heart-warming to read of Tegan and John being reunited, and important to acknowledge the enormous support that Tegan received from her mother Sasha and the rest of her family throughout the ordeal.
My own experience was very different from Tegan’s. Although I sustained some significant spinal injuries, which became more apparent over time, I escaped relatively lightly.
On June 23 2008, I had attended the opening day of that year’s Wimbledon tennis championships. Returning to Southfields station on the District Line, I fainted and fell off the northbound platform. I hit my head on the track and was knocked out.
Staff immediately activated their Incident Procedure, and a packed station (at 1730) was evacuated. Police were already at the station on a scheduled basis in connection with Wimbledon and the increased volume of passengers, but additional emergency services (including British Transport Police) and an ambulance were called.
The paramedics remained on stand-by until the BTP officers received confirmation from the Line Controller that the current had been turned off (this also meant that thousands of passengers were trapped in trains along the relevant segment of the District Line on a hot Monday afternoon), and it was safe for them to get to me down on the track.
According to what I was told afterwards by my friend, I was lying on the track face down and with my feet up against the middle live rail. I was wearing footwear with a rubber sole, and this may have helped.
When the paramedics reached me, I was found to be unconscious but still alive.
As I was recovered to the now nearly deserted platform, I began to regain consciousness but was initially very disorientated.
From Southfields station I was taken by ambulance to St George’s Hospital, Tooting. Once at St George’s I was soon placed in the CAT-scan machine, as I had suffered some head injuries in the fall.
Fortunately, these injuries proved superficial and after spending a sleepless night on the Observation Ward, I was discharged.
I needed to make my way to Waterloo station, to meet my friend for our delayed journey back to Devon.
Because I did not have the money for a taxi, and using buses would have taken too long to catch the 1220 service, I decided to go to Waterloo by London Underground.
I felt a bit apprehensive at the prospect, but at least I was travelling from a different station on a different line, namely the Northern Line from Tooting Broadway to Waterloo, changing at Kennington (a straightforward, cross-platform change).
The journey went smoothly, and moving up the escalator towards the large Waterloo station concourse, I internally ‘punched the air’ and exclaimed: “Yes, I’ve done it!”
I was off work for six months. Two years later, in June 2010, I returned incognito to Southfields and viewed the approximate location of the incident which so nearly cost my life. What I should be interested to learn more about now are the technical aspects of the electrified railway.