101-year-old woman among two injured after being caught and dragged by Tube doors

27 June 2024, 20:07 | Updated: 27 June 2024, 20:09

A 101-year-old woman was caught by her coat and dragged down a Tube platform in a terrifying ordeal involving Tube doors, an investigation has found.

She was one of two people injured after getting their belongings snagged in closing doors on underground trains last year, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said.

The other passenger had their coat caught in the doors as they attempted to board a Northern line train at Chalk Farm station last April. They were also injured.

The 101-year-old woman was dragged along a platform at Archway station early last year and was left needing urgent hospital treatment and is still suffering with her injuries 16 months after the accident on 18 February 2023.

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The woman's coat became caught in the Northern line tube door as it closed on her while she attempted to disembark a train at Archway station.

The train then travelled around 20 metres, dragging the centenarian along the platform for up to two metres.

The woman's companion also fell to the ground while attempting to hold onto her.

The train driver saw the women on CCTV and slammed on the brakes before the emergency services were called.

The train driver did not realise the passenger’s coat was trapped in the closed doors, the report said.

“Believing it was safe to do so, the train operator commanded the train to depart”, it adds.

“The passenger and their companion both realised that the coat was trapped and tried to pull it free but were unable to do so."

“They both believed that the train operator would be able to see them and would open the doors to release the coat.”

A similar incident occurred on Thursday 20 April 2023, when a passenger’s coat became caught as they attempted to board a Northern line train at Chalk Farm station.

The passenger stopped on the platform when the doors started to close, but their coat became trapped.

The train then departed, dragging the passenger along the platform for approximately 20 metres until the coat eventually became free and the passenger fell to the ground.

The driver was unaware and continued the journey.

Both of the Northern line trains were stock dating back to 1995, which have a door safety system that can only detect objects thicker than 11mm. The system did not detect the caught coats in either incident.

The report made four recommendations to Tube bosses.

They have asked for a risk assessment to be carried out around trap and drag events, further increasing risk mitigation, providing sufficient station dwell time and reducing the risk of train operators losing attention and awareness.

Nick Dent, Director of Customer Operations at London Underground said: “The safety of our customers and staff is at the heart of everything we do and we were extremely concerned that two customers were injured".

Mr Dent added: “We are not complacent and we welcome the recommendations from the RAIB’s report and we are in the process of implementing them.”