An elderly passenger who fell from a Tube station platform onto the tracks died after being hit by four Underground trains, an investigation has revealed.
The man, Brian Mitchell, 72, lay stranded on the tracks of a Jubilee line platform for five-and-a-half minutes, when he tried in vain to save himself but was unable to climb back onto the platform.
But he was not spotted on the station CCTV or by the driver of the first incoming train – possibly because the driver’s level of attention had been reduced because the train was operating in automatic mode.
The white circle shows where Brian Mitchell fell onto the track (RAIB)
The tragedy happened on Boxing Day 2023, at around 2.45pm. Mr Mitchell, who had been visiting friends and had travelled on the Tube from Stanmore, stumbled forwards and fell about 0.7m onto the live tracks.
An investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, published on Thursday, revealed that the driver may also have been distracted by the presence of another driver waiting on the platform as the first train pulled into platform 13.
An image of where Mr Mitchell lay, as seen from a train on platform 14 (RAIB)
The western end of platform 13 at Stratford station (RAIB)
A second driver arriving at the platform did not see Mr Mitchell, whose body was between the platform edge and the nearest rail to the platform.
A third driver did see an object but thought it was an “inflatable doll” rather than a human.
A fourth driver was allowed to pull into the platform despite a customer service assistant at the station knowing by this time that a person was on the track.
A toxicology report found that Mr Mitchell had 272 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in his body – more than three times over the drink-drive limit.
Lilli Matson, Transport for London’s chief safety officer, said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Mitchell, who sadly died at Stratford Tube station on 26 December 2023.
“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.
“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.”
This is a breaking story that is being updated.