Coroner Andrew Reid calls for safety procedures after two deaths on the Tube
Above: Felicity Stephenson
Published: 14 May, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON
A CORONER has called for a review of Tube safety procedures after two deaths on the tracks in three weeks despite warnings from train drivers.
Felicity Stephenson, of Blackstock Road, died after jumping under a train at Finsbury Park Tube station shortly after midnight on September 2, less than an hour after her 27th birthday.
Just three weeks earlier, Andraes Prodromou, 51, who was detained under the Mental Health Act, died after walking on the line at Archway Tube station on August 8.
St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard that in both cases staff failed to act on warnings by train drivers that there were vulnerable passengers on the platform acting in a suspicious manner.
Following the inquests, Coroner Andrew Reid told the court he would be writing to London Underground outlining his concerns over how the drivers’ observations had been “watered down” as they were communicated between staff. He also said he would ask for a more joined-up approach from London Underground and local mental health services in dealing with vulnerable passengers.
He said: “What struck me was that in both cases the drivers’ gut feeling was right. Without saying that the system failed, what didn’t seem to be incorporated was a way of capturing all the information that was available.”
During Ms Stephenson’s inquest, which ended yesterday (Thursday), a jury heard that an hour before her death a train driver warned station staff to call the police and said Ms Stephenson – who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia – would jump if left alone.
The driver, who refused to move his train until Ms Stephenson was safely guarded, told station staff: “That girl tried to jump in front of my train. Don’t let her out of your sight.”
But after talking to Ms Stephenson for some time and escorting her out of the station, staff accepted her story that she was waiting for her boyfriend.
They allowed her to return to the platform and she died after stepping in front of the last northbound Victoria line train of the day at 12.50am, an hour after she first entered the station.
Dr Reid said: “I’m not criticising the station staff because I think they acted in good faith, but not enough weight was given to the initial concerns of the driver.”
Questions were raised by Ms Stephenson’s family over why staff ignored the driver’s request to call the police. PC Steven Tucker, of the British Transport Police (BTP), told the court that officers would have detained her immediately and taken her home to safety.
“As a police officer we would never leave someone in the station,” he told the court. “If there was any sign of distress it would be very common to take them home to a place of safety with their family.”
The jury heard how Ms Stephenson, a former prison officer at Pentonville, had become depressed after the birth of her three-year-old daughter and was engaged with mental health services. They were also told she spent her birthday with her father and four siblings before being driven home by her grandmother. She went out and made her way to Finsbury Park station.
The court was shown CCTV footage of Ms Stephenson’s movements in the station during the hour she spent there before her death.
Returning a verdict that Ms Stephenson took her own life, a jury spokeswoman said: “Concerns were raised by a train operator who saw Ms Stephenson standing very close to the edge of the platform looking like she was going to jump. The train operator expressed to a colleague that BTP should be called but this request was not carried out.”
Speaking outside the court, Felicity’s father, James Stephenson, 46, of Arundel Square, said: “We are pleased with the coroner making this report because we feel Felicity was totally let down by particular members of staff who had the authority and the cause to intervene.” Paying tribute to his daughter, he added: “She was a beautiful, decent, courteous person who loved her daughter very much. She loved children and had just taken an examination in midwifery.”
Dr Reid also made recommendations that changes be made at Archway Tube station due to its proximity to the Highgate Mental Health Centre in Dartmouth Park Hill, where Mr Prodromou was detained.
An inquest into Mr Prodromou’s death on Monday heard that he had been allowed out on temporary leave at the time of his death. A driver reported seeing the 51-year-old looking down the tunnel as the train entered the platform.