By James Simons-
TFL and TOL have been fined £14m for failures that led to tram crash.
Seven people were killed and 21 others badly hurt in the November 2016 crash.
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Tram Operations Limited (TOL) has also been fined £4m.
TfL and TOL both accepted failings in their health and safety duties.
The tram, carrying 69 people, was travelling at three times the speed limit and topped over a sharp bend when it derailed
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‘This was undoubtedly an accident waiting to happen, quite literally’ said the Old Bailey judge when handing down the sentences to Transport for London and First Group’s Tram Operations Ltd
The operators of the Croydon tram network were today handed fines amounting to £14million for the corporate failings that led to the 2016 crash outside Sandilands in which seven people were killed.
Transport for London was fined £10million and Tram Operations Limited £4million for failing in their health and safety duties.
The operators had also been ordered by the Old Bailey judge to pay £500,000 in legal costs incurred by prosecutors, the Office for Road and Rail.
The early morning tram from New Addington on November 9, 2016, was carrying 69 people when it toppled over on a sharp bend, having been travelling at three times the 12mph speed limit for that stretch of track.
Driver Alfred Dorris was last month cleared of health and safety offences.
Today, presiding judge Mr Justice Fraser told the court: “This was undoubtedly an accident waiting to happen, quite literally.”
He added there was a failure to heed warnings about the risk of drivers becoming disorientated in the tunnel from Lloyd Park to Sandilands on the approach to the curve, and that a report of a “near miss” just days before the crash was “ignored”.
The “complacency” around the inadequate lighting and lack of visual cues in the tunnel was “disturbing”, the judge said.
The Croydon crash was the worst incident involving trams for almost 100 years.
In a statement issued by TfL today, they said, “Every passenger on the tram that morning entrusted their safety to us, but we failed them.”
The three-day hearing had spent time hearing victim statements from survivors of the crash, several of whom had suffered life-changing injuries, and the bereaved relatives of those killed.
The people who died were Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, Robert Huxley, 63, Philip Logan, 52, Donald Collett, 62, and Mark Smith, 35.
Among those giving victim impact statements was Jean Smith, the mother of Mark Smith, who said that no amount of money or justice would bring her son back but getting accountability may “bring some sense of peace”.
She said, “We have to live with the consequences of other people’s actions for the rest of our lives. I’m living a life sentence. It should never have happenedHe said there were “missed opportunities” over the years to take a closer look at the Sandilands curve but action was not taken.
There was “over-reliance on fallible humans” and tram drivers were “let down” by their employer TOL, and by TfL, the court was told.
London’s Transport Commissioner, Andy Lord, said: : “I apologise on behalf of everyone at Transport for London, both past and present, for this tragedy and for the pain, distress and suffering that all those affected have endured and continue to endure.
“Every passenger on the tram that morning entrusted their safety to us but we failed them and for that I am truly sorry. We remain committed to providing support to anyone who needs it.”
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