Passenger in headphones killed by Tube train as he bent to pick up bag

A MARKETING analyst was hit and killed by a train after he leant forward to pick up a bag while listening to headphones, an inquest heard.

John Burgess, 27, bent down on the packed platform two seconds before a London Underground service arrived during morning rush hour.

He died of a severe brain injury three days after the accident at Stockwell station in South London, the inquest was told.

Mr Burgess, who lived in nearby Brixton with his girlfriend, the daughter of former Tory science minister David Willetts, was on his way to work i n central London when he was hit in April last year. Gary Mathias, from the British Transport Police, said: ‘Witnesses say Mr Burgess had actually dropped something…

‘They noticed he was wearing headphones and bent down to retrieve what he dropped.

‘As he was doing this, unfortunately a London Underground train approached the platform and he was struck.’ He added that Mr Burgess bent down when the train was ‘two seconds’ away. York University psychology graduate Mr Burgess, an account manager at marketing analyst firm Ebiquity, was unconscious when medics arrived.

London Ambulance Service paramedic Michael Hannah said bystanders were frantically trying to help him. He said: ‘Blood was coming down from his head. I was told Mr Burgess had gone to pick up a bag and the train had hit him on the head.’

He was taken to King’s College Hospital where he was found to have significant brain damage and multiple skull fractures. He died three days later.

Recording the cause of death as a brain and head injury, coroner Lorna Tagliavini said: ‘I find that t here were no s uspicious circumstances.

‘There is absolutely no indication that he intended this to happen, none whatsoever.’ Mr Burgess’s family thanked all the witnesses, bystanders and hospital staff who had tried so hard to help him.

While Mr Burgess’s death was not blamed directly on his headphones, it comes amid warnings from safety campaigners that pedestrians, joggers, and cyclists are at risk due to the distractions of modern technology.

An AA study found digital music players were blamed for up to 17 accidents a day in 2010, and the figure is likely to be higher today as they are more widespread.

‘Blood coming from his head’