Network Rail has been fined 1.2 million after a boundary wall at Rugby railway station in Warwickshire collapsed onto an 81-year-old pedestrian.
After an investigation, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) brought a prosecution against Network Rail under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, to which Network Rail pleaded guilty.
On 16th September 2022, a boundary wall next to a car park at Rugby railway station collapsed onto Edward Hanlon, an 81-year-old pedestrian who was using the adjacent alleyway.
Injuries sustained by Mr Hanlon included several fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a blood clot in his lung.
Mr Hanlon spent two weeks in hospital, but the incident has left a lasting impact on him physically and mentally, with persistent pain, restricted mobility, and an inability to perform many of the activities he had previously enjoyed.
Sadly, Mr Hanlon died in January 2025 after being diagnosed with lymphoma.
The wall was owned by Network Rail, and was responsible for its repair and maintenance. When a previous tenant redeveloped the station car park, the changes were undocumented.
That included installing a fence in front of the wall, which led to the mistaken assumption that the fence marked the station boundary.
In its investigation, ORR found that Network Rail omitted the wall from its inspections and failed to identify the discrepancy in the boundary records or the deterioration in the wall’s condition. As a result, the risk that the wall posed to members of the public remained unidentified.
The Office of Rail and Road has a wide remit for ensuring the safe operation of Britain’s railways, ranging from making sure that Central Door Locking is installed on carriages used for the Jacobite steam service in Scotland, to investigating whenever injuries are sustained by anyone on or around the railway.
“Our thoughts remain with Mr Hanlon’s family and friends. The sentence imposed by the court reflects the seriousness of Network Rail’s failings and the devastating consequences when infrastructure is not managed effectively. Duty holders must know which assets they are responsible for, carry out appropriate inspections, and take timely action to address defects before they pose a risk to people. This prosecution sends a clear message that ORR will not hesitate to take enforcement action where failures to manage safety expose workers or members of the public to serious harm.”
Richard Hines, HM Chief Inspector of Railways, Office of Rail and Road
Responses
So who is actually going to foot the bill of this £1,200,000 fine .. If it’s Network Rail corporately then it’s just public money being regurgitated and money not available to Notwork Rail to spend on network improvements . And once again the Directors and Senior Managers in Network Rail will of in effect have got off scot-free…
Now has to be the time to pass these fines on to the Directors and Senior Managers in Network Rail for them to pay personally or just deduct the full amount from their bonuses ..
Make the failures to correctly manage the assets and maintain accurate records pay for their failure.
Yes, I fully agree with this. It should apply to the water companies as well who currently just pass their fines on to customers via increased bills.
A tragic incident, but fines are pretty meaningless, just going out of one Govt pocket into another Govt one. Probably the Govt will then have to increase the funding of Network Rail to compensate for the fine!