Back on 9th November 2016, seven people died after a tram derailed and overturned close to the Sandilands tram stop in Croydon.
Following nearly three years of enquiries, a decision has been made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that the tram driver will NOT be charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
It has also been concluded that no charge for corporate manslaughter will be brought against Tram Operations Limited and Transport for London.
This follows three years of enquiries by a dedicated team into the causes of the collision, including forensic work, analysis of phone records, hundreds of interviews and thousands of pieces of evidence.
The families of those who lost loved ones have now been informed of this update and will continue to be supported by specialist officers.
What did the officials say?
Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson, who led the BTP investigation, said:
“For the past three years, my team have been working to uncover exactly what happened on the morning of 9 November 2016.
“This has involved simulating the circumstances of the derailment, speaking with hundreds of witnesses and collecting thousands of individual pieces of evidence. It has been a complex investigation undertaken by the Force.
“We know that this latest update may not be the news that many, including the family members who lost loved ones, had hoped for. But we are satisfied that every scrap of possible evidence has been scrutinised and, after lengthy consultation with the CPS, it has been concluded that the threshold to bring charges of manslaughter against the tram driver, TfL and Tram Operations Ltd, have not been met.
“Since November 2016, we’ve been working alongside the Office of Rail and Road who continue investigate whether Health and Safety legislation was breached during this incident. We will also work with HM Coroner to begin the process of preparing for the inquests of the seven people who lost their lives.
“Those seven men and women, along with their loved ones, and every person affected by the events on that morning, are very much still at the forefront of our minds.”
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Mixed feelings over this….my belief has always been that the driver is responsible for his actions at all times, yet the system (or lack of one) gave no “fail safe” when the human element failed. This has now been rectified. A proper risk analysis at this location should have been mandatory at the opening of the system years ago.
That is just disgusting. So the tram driver won’t be found guilty all because of sleeping whilst driving the tram which accelerated and derailed. That’s just out of order.