Croydon tram disaster: Driver ‘broke speed limit before derailment’, court heard

The driver in the Croydon tram disaster was traveling at more than three times the speed limit when his vehicle crashed, killing seven passengers, an Old Bailey trial was told.

Alfred Dorris, 49, was at the wheel of the morning service 2551 which overturned on its side near Sandilands station on November 9, 2016.

He is now on trial at the Old Bailey accused of failing health and safety in a criminal case brought by the Office of Rail and Road.

Prosecutor Jonathan Ashley-Norman KC told jurors of an “appalling death toll”, outlining how seven passengers died and 19 others were seriously injured as they were thrown “into a washing machine”.

He named the victims who lost their lives as Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, Robert Huxley, 63, and Philip Logan, 52, all of New Addington, and Donald Collett, 62, and Mark Smith. Aged 35, both from Croydon.

“The seven deaths on the Croydon tram system on the morning of 9 November 2016 will probably live on in the memory of everyone who was an adult in Britain on that day,” Ashley-Norman said.

“It was a nasty morning – wintry, dark and rainy. Tram 2551 ran from New Addington via East Croydon to Wimbledon.

“One of the tram stations on that route is Sandilands. The approach from the east is preceded by a sharp left turn.

“Drivers are instructed that the speed at that bend must be reduced to 20km/h to allow the trams to pass the curve safely. A sign on the elbow confirmed this instruction. The tram subject to these procedures did not reduce its speed to 20 km/h to allow it to turn safely.

“On the other hand, the tram was traveling at over 70 km/h when it entered the bend. At this speed he could not hope to hold the track.

“The inner wheels lifted off the rail and the tram derailed. It toppled on its side, throwing those inside as if, as one survivor put it, they were in a washing machine.

“The windows were broken and the doors were broken. Those who died were thrown through the broken windows and trapped between the overturned tram and the track.

“Within seconds, tragedy struck seven families who were bereaved and many more who were seriously injured. Due to inattention on the part of the driver involved that morning, death and serious injury ensued.”

Ashley-Norman said Dorris is accused of “failing in his duty to take reasonable care of passengers”, but he denies the allegation.

He will argue that “factors beyond Mr Dorris’ control involving the infrastructure – particularly the infrastructure around Sandilands – combined to render him disoriented”.

The court heard that Transport for London and TOL are also to blame for health and safety issues in the operation of the Croydon tram network.

But Ashley-Norman added: “Their failings do not exonerate Mr Dorris.”

In interviews, Dorris insisted that he had “become disoriented” and was confused about which direction he was going.

“I was angry, confused, you know, traumatized,” he said.

“One minute I’m fine behind the wheel and then the next I’m just thinking, where am I, what’s going on, kind of… I’m not sure where I am?”

Dorris said the elbow where the disaster happened “kind of crept up on me,” and added: “I wouldn’t say it was a lapse in focus. I would say it was more of something that I wasn’t in control of in terms of the disorientation.”

Dorris also denied being impaired or falling asleep at the wheel.

Dorris, of Ravenscroft Road, Beckenham, south-east London, denies one charge of failing to take reasonable care at work under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The five-week trial before Mr Justice Fraser continues .