Man who died on Tube was run over by four trains

A man who died on the London Underground was run over by four Jubilee line trains, the rail safety investigator has revealed.

Brian Mitchell, 72, fell and stumbled on to the track at Stratford station in east London on 26 December 2023 and was struck by a terminating train five minutes later.

Three further trains drove over the track where Mr Mitchell was lying, according to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), who said the operator of the fourth inbound train "had independently recognised that there was a person on the track".

Transport for London (TfL) said its "thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Mitchell" who was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was living in Hanwell in west London at the time of his death but was originally from Edinburgh.

The RAIB report said there were no passengers or staff on the platform when Mr Mitchell fell, at about 14:45 GMT, and the driver of the first train didn't see him "possibly because their level of attention was reduced due to the use of automatic train operation".

The report stated: "The operator may also have been distracted by the presence of another operator who was standing on the platform as the first train arrived at the station.

"The consequences of the accident were made more severe because the operator of the second inbound train to arrive at the platform also did not see the passenger, while the operator of the third inbound train saw something when they were arriving at the platform but did not recognise what they saw as being a person.

"The fourth inbound train was not stopped by a customer service assistant who was present on the platform when it was entering the station, even though the assistant was by now aware that a person was on the track."

Each outbound train departed the station without the drivers noticing "because the passenger was underneath their respective trains before they departed".

The RAIB made two recommendations to London Underground:

• Consider using technology that can detect if a passenger is in a dangerous position and intervene or warn to stop an approaching or departing train
• Review environmental, organisational and job factors related to operating trains in automatic train operation mode

Lilli Matson, TfL's chief safety officer, said: "We welcome the recommendations from the RAIB's independent investigation into this incident, which align with the findings of our own internal investigation, and work has already begun to implement them.

"We will always strive to learn from incidents and improve operational safety, including by ensuring relevant regulatory bodies are immediately informed, carrying out thorough and extensive internal investigations and prioritising taking action on any recommendations from any review.

"While serious injuries on our network are rare, we are undertaking a huge range of work to eradicate such incidents and make the network even safer for everyone."

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