SDR FINED £40K FOR PUTTING UNFIT CARRIAGE INTO SERVICE
Railway’s safety Management system was ‘out of date’ and ‘not fit for purpose’, says ORR.
IT IS ONLY BY GOOD FORTUNE AND THE SWIFT ACTION OF THE BOY’S MOTHER THAT THIS INCIDENT WAS NOT A FATALITY IAN PROSSER
The South Devon Railway Trust has been fined £40,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws when a three-yearold child fell through the missing floor of a carriage. On May 14, the SDRT was prosecuted at Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court under Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, for failing to adequately prevent passengers from entering a toilet cubicle in one of its carriages which was missing its floor. Disaster was narrowly averted on June 22 when Ms Anna Patch escorted her three-yearold son to the toilet on the train. Despite the door being supposedly secured from opening and displaying an ‘out of order’ notice, the boy was able to open the door. The court heard that the child narrowly escaped serious injury when he fell through the missing floor and had to be snatched to safety by his mother, with his feet within inches of a rotating wheel below. The coach in question, BR Mk 1 Second Open (SO) No. W4805, had previously been taken out of traffic in early April 2017 so that a vacuum pipe leak, which was subsequently discovered to be located underneath the toilet floor, could be attended to. It was decided that, rather than lift the carriage and remove the bogie to access the repair, the floor of the toilet cubicle would be removed to provide access. An investigation by transport regulator the Office of Rail and Road discovered that, despite needing structural repair, the carriage was returned to service sometime around April 14 2017, ahead of the railway’s Easter period, and that two screws were used to prevent the door to the cubicle from opening and an ‘out of order’ notice was hung on the door. The ORR also discovered that, at some point between April 5 and June 22 2017 the screws broke, along with the door post, meaning that the door could easily be opened. There were also no ongoing checks to ensure that the door remained secure and staff working on the train were not informed of the missing floor. It also found that the company, which continued using the carriage for three days after the incident, had an inadequate Safety Management System in place, which was approximately ten years out of date and not fit for purpose. The carriage is currently out of service and undergoing overhaul at Buckfastleigh. Ian Prosser, HM Chief Inspectorate of Railways, said: “South Devon Railway Trust took an exceptionally casual approach to ensuring the safety of its passengers and created a genuine and unacceptable risk to the public. “In this instance, it is only by good fortune and the swift action of the boy’s mother that this incident was not a fatality. “The fine issued today sends out a powerful message to the heritage sector that the safety of passengers is absolutely paramount, and that thorough risk assessment and monitoring must be carried out.” Following the conclusion of the court hearing on May 14, an SDRT spokesman said: “First of all, we have once again offered our sincere apologies to Ms Anna Patch, her son and family for what occurred during their trip on the SDR on June 22 2017. “The South Devon Railway Trust fully acknowledges the shortcomings which occurred, and entered a guilty plea today to the charges brought against the railway by the Office of Rail and Road. “Despite the SDR’s good health and safety record, we accept that we did not meet health and safety standards in this case, and put our customers at risk. “The SDR takes the safety of its customers and staff very seriously, and has put every effort into making improvements to its systems, including a new Safety Management System, to ensure that this incident could not happen again. “This includes complying with the requests of the ORR, and going further to put in place new infrastructure to modernise our approach to carriage maintenance. “The SDR accepts and regrets that improvement was needed at the time of the incident – hopefully it can be seen that the trust has reacted appropriately and seriously in the circumstances. “While the fine we received today is a significant one, we have been making contingency plans for it and also have a helpful period of time in which to pay. As a result, the SDR will continue to operate its popular steam trains and services as normal.” Speaking to the South Hams Gazette, Ms Patch said: “We are happy that [the SDRT] pleaded guilty and the investigation and prosecution did a very good job finding out what happened and why it happened and who was responsible. “I enjoy going on the train and it is a beautiful train ride. I want them to continue but not at the expense of people’s safety. It’s not about the money; it’s about keeping people safe.” In addition to the £40,000 fine, the SDRT has been ordered to pay £13,035 in court costs. The first £15,000 of the fine must be paid within one month, with the rest over the subsequent four years.