Runaway train operators fined

Jonathan Ashley-Norman, acting for the Office of Rail Regulation, prosecuted London Underground Limited, the maintenance company Tube Lines Limited, and the German sub-contractor Schweerbau GmbH for health and safety offences when failings by all three companies resulted in a 39 tonne maintenance train runaway on the Northern Line. Control over the train was lost when it decoupled from the train which was towing it after a break down. It rolled from Highgate, where on board workers jumped to the safety of the platform, and careered downhill all the way to Warren Street, reaching speeds of about 30 miles per hour, and forcing a passenger train ahead to flee before it. All three companies pleaded Guilty, and were each fined £100,000 plus costs.

Click here to read the article from the BBC.

1st March 2013