A passenger has died after falling down stairs inside a London bus. Transport for London (TfL) reports that the service was travelling in the south west of the city in March.
The person died as a result of the injuries they sustained in the fall. The incident is detailed within documents for the meeting of TfL’s Safety, Sustainability and Human Resources Panel, which is due to take place on May 16.
They state: “On 11 March 2024, a passenger fell down the stairs of a bus as it approached Kingston and subsequently died due to injuries sustained from the fall.”
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Other incidents this year
Earlier this year, on January 17, a customer died after falling on the platform at Mile End station. On February 15, a customer on the London Overground at Wapping station died when they fell onto the track.
Meeting papers note that all of the above incidents are currently subject to investigations, including, where relevant, investigations by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), the Metropolitan Police Service and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
On January 4, a bus on Morning Lane in Hackney collided with a pedestrian who was crossing the road. The pedestrian sustained ahead injury and subsequently died in hospital. On January 5, a pedestrian was struck by a bus at the junction of the A301 (Waterloo Road) and A3202 (Westminster Bridge Road).
They died in hospital on January 19. Later that month, on January 29, 56-year-old Catherine Finnegan was involved in a collision with a route 13 bus as it set off from a stop on Terminus Place outside Victoria bus station.
She died at the scene. The bus also collided with the bus station infrastructure. All of these incidents, TfL says, are subject to investigations. These also include, where relevant, investigations by the Met the Health and Safety Executive.
Aim to eradicate deaths and serious injuries
TfL explains that, to accelerate its progress towards its pledge to eradicate deaths and injuries on its network, officials are developing for the first time a ‘single integrated plan’ for public transport safety. Papers add: “This will be informed by best practice and evidence and is planned for completion this year.
“We continue to focus on the delivery of our updated Bus Safety Strategy, published last year. An update on the progress of this programme will be brought to the Panel in the autumn.”
Documents also explained that, since the Covid-19 pandemic, customer and colleague injuries have been ‘increasing as activity returns to pre-pandemic levels’. They add: “Current performance is therefore compared to a pre-pandemic baseline.
“In Quarter 4, the average number of customer injuries per period was 14.02 per cent lower than the three-year pre-pandemic baseline. In Quarter 4, the average number of colleague injuries per period was 26.8 per cent lower than the three-year pre-pandemic baseline.”
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