An investigation has concluded after a tram passenger was injured as their walking stick became trapped in a closing door. A passenger was dragged alongside a departing tram at Beeston Centre tram stop on Wednesday, February 22.
Shortly before the tram departed, the passenger had placed a hand and a walking stick into the closing tram doors to try keep them open, but this instead trapped his walking stick. The unaware driver then started the tram, dragging the passenger by their walking stick for around three seconds and causing serious injuries to the face and chest.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch, which independently investigates accidents to improve railway safety working with the Department for Transport, has now published its investigation into the incident. RAIB said CCTV showed the tram’s doors were already starting to close, accompanied by an audible warning, by the time the passenger attempted to board at the rearmost doors.
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The walking stick was not detected by the tram’s door obstacle detection system, which is designed to detect obstructions greater than 30 mm wide, once the doors had closed. As a result the driver received audible and visual indications that the doors had closed and locked.
The walking stick was not recovered by the RAIB but a survey of similar walking sticks showed they typically have a diameter of less than one inch (25.4 mm) and so were "unlikely to trigger the tram’s door obstacle detection system". The tram driver involved in the accident at Beeston Centre tram stop told their employer they did not use the ‘rear view’ button before departure.
The driver acknowledged they had been trained to use this view but did not do so because they thought all the passengers were already on the tram. This means that the driver was relying solely on the ‘wing mirror’ view to conduct any final safety check.
It was dark and raining at the time of the accident, with the driver telling his employer after the accident that these conditions had made the in-cab CCTV screens unclear. The driver reported that he had attempted to modify the settings at the previous terminus, but the varying brightness of different tram stops and water on the camera lens had made the cameras difficult to use.
As part of the RAIB report on the accident, the investigator said: "The footage from the tram bodyside cameras is not recorded on this type of tram and so it is not possible to say exactly what was shown on the CCTV system during the final visual check on the night of the accident.
"However, the combination of environmental factors, the use of only the ‘wing mirror’ view and the fact that other passengers were stood between the passenger and the camera, mean that it is unlikely that the passenger who was injured would have been clearly discernible to the driver when any final check was taking place."
A NET spokesman said: "Throughout the RAIB’s investigation, we’ve worked closely with the organisation to establish what can be learned from this unfortunate incident, and we are now studying the full details of the safety digest.
"Delivering a safe tram system for Nottingham is always our top priority, and we will continue to work with colleagues from across the wider transport sector to look at ways to reduce the risk of similar incidents in the future.
“In the meantime, we have further enhanced our driver training as part of a programme of continuous safety improvements. We would also like to take this opportunity to remind customers that they should never try to stop the doors from closing, and to stand well clear of the tram as it prepares to leave the platform.”
It comes a few years after an empty pushchair became trapped in the doors of a tram at the Radford Road tram stop, in Hyson Green. It was then dragged on the outside of the tram, with operators told take "urgent steps" to check the doors before trams move off.
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