Report published a year after terrified commuters smashed train windows to escape smoke-filled carriages – South London News

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has released a report one year after a Tube train full of smoke, causing terrified commuters to smash their windows to escape.

The RAIB made three recommendations to London Underground after investigating the incident which took place on a partial platform train at Clapham Common London Underground station on 5 May 2023.

At around 5.45pm, a London Underground train leaving Clapham Common station was stopped when a passenger activated the emergency alarm after smoke and a burning smell entered the train. British Transport Police said the panic was sparked by the smell of brake dust from a broken-down train “which can often be mistaken for burnt”.

The train stopped with two cars inside the tunnel and four cars adjacent to the platform. The train doors remained closed.

About 100 of the train’s 500 passengers evacuated onto the platform, pushing open the interconnecting doors between the train cars and breaking its windows.

Station staff began opening the train doors about four and a half minutes after the train stopped.

The incident resulted in minor injuries reported by several passengers. But the report said it had the potential for more serious consequences, including passengers falling onto the tracks and being exposed to the conductor’s tracks and approaching trains.

Andrew Hall, Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents, said: “During this incident, staff did not fully appreciate the safety risk that arose when passengers’ behavior began to escalate as they became increasingly anxious .

“When passengers were not given adequate information about the nature of the incident and the actions they should take, nor did they see the measures they expected to be taken, they resorted to desperate self-evacuation measures.

“The RAIB investigated a similar incident at Holland Park in 2013 and for several years that incident was used as an example to train staff on how to respond to such off-course events.

“But it was removed from the training curriculum and since then the knowledge of the lessons learned may well have started to fade. This incident demonstrates once again that learning from past operational incidents must be retained by organisations.”

The inquiry branch formally made three recommendations to London Underground, including improving procedures and training staff, learning from previous incidents and conducting a review of its existing risk assessment process.

Nick Dent, director of customer operations at London Underground, said: “I would like to apologize once again for the distress this incident has caused customers at Clapham Common and I would like to reassure Londoners that we continue to we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of everyone on the subway.”

“Our commitment to safety is at the heart of everything we do and our staff work hard to keep customers safe in sometimes difficult circumstances. We welcome any opportunities to learn lessons from incidents on our network and, following our own investigation last year, we are already making good progress on the RAIB’s recommendations. This includes changes to our training, which will be implemented in the coming weeks.”

Pictured above: A CCTV image from the train platform showing broken glass on the floor after commuters escaped through the train windows (Image: RAIB)

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