Mayor urges probe into claims Croydon tram drivers fell asleep at wheel

Wreckage: the crashed tram in Croydon
BBC/ITN
Pippa Crerar3 May 2017

The chief inspector of rail accidents was today asked by Sadiq Khan to investigate “alarming” claims that tram drivers on the Croydon line where seven people were killed last year fell asleep at the controls.

The Mayor wrote to the Rail Accidents Investigation Branch requesting it also looks into allegations that the “dead man’s handle”, a safety device, failed to activate and stop their trams.

After the tragedy on November 9 last year, which also left 51 people injured, driver Alfred Dorris was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and bailed until this month.

The BBC aired allegations last month on its Victoria Derbyshire programme that four former tram drivers had admitted to falling asleep while operating trams in Croydon, and that the safety device had failed to stop their trams.

The Mayor has now asked chief inspector Stephen French to look into the allegations as part of his investigation, to help prevent this type of accident from happening again.

Victims: l-R Dorota Rynkiewicz, Dane Chinnery, Phil Seary, and Mark Smith

Mr Khan said: “Any allegations of safety breaches must be taken extremely seriously and I have ordered TfL to urgently investigate all the claims made in the Victoria Derbyshire programme.

“These claims are obviously alarming, and it is only right that they are considered by the Rail Accidents Investigation Branch.”

Following an interim report into the disaster in February, the tram operator implemented all of its safety recommendations.

TfL has also introduced additional speed restrictions and signage near Sandilands and at three other locations on the tram network.

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