RMT fury over 'body left in cupboard' at Edgware Road tube station - shocked cleaners found corpse of Alan Sheppard, 55

OUTRAGED union leaders have demanded a swift and thorough investigation after claiming the dead body of man who had been hit by a train was discovered in an Edgware Road tube station cupboard by “shocked” cleaners.

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ (RMT) London regional organiser Steve Hedley has written to bosses at Transport for ­London claiming staff who found the body may suffer psychological damage as a result of the experience.

According to the RMT, the train involved in the collision was not cleaned properly before being put back into service.

Mr Hedley said: “It is clear that in order to avoid financial penalties that trains were kept in service that should have been immediately withdrawn and that all common decency was abandoned to protect profits.”

TfL has strongly disputed the union’s version of events, and yesterday (Thursday) a spokeswoman said: “The train was fully inspected at the depot by maintenance staff before being returned back into service and they have confirmed that no blood was ­present.”

She added that it was “standard procedure” to store bodies in a secure room in the station while they were awaiting transfer to the morgue, adding “…the body was put in a secured room, the CCTV room, which is in the ticket hall area and was there until the coroner was able to collect shortly before 11am.”

The man was hit by a train shortly after 5am last Saturday, causing ser­vices from Edgware Road station to be suspended. The emergency services were called and the man was pronounced dead at 6.20am.

The station reopened to the public just before 7am and the RMT said cleaning staff unexpectedly came across the body before it was removed to the morgue just before 11am.

Mr Hedley said: “The body was kept for nearly six hours in a cleaners’ store cupboard, which is not secure as many people have access, and this is a very undignified way to treat the deceased. The cleaners were not made aware of the body’s presence and were shocked to find it in their stores.”

The TfL spokeswoman added: “Person-under-a-train incidents are, thankfully, rare. Sadly such incidents are not unique to London or England and occur on all railways. 

“Each incident is traumatic for everyone involved, the families, friends, Underground staff and the emergency services. 

“Any members of staff involved in incidents of this nature are offered counselling and support by London Underground’s occupational health service, as was the case with a member of station staff. 

“However we are not aware of any of the station’s cleaners being involved.”

The victim was named by British Transport Police as Alan Sheppard, 55, from Edgware.

Published: 15 July 2011
By JOSH LOEB