TfL told to overhaul safety over artist's death on Tube tracks
Transport for London (TfL) has been ordered to overhaul its safety processes after an artist died when she walked into a Tube tunnel.
Sarah Cunningham, 31, died after she ended up on the tracks at Chalk Farm station, in north London, on Nov 2. Her disappearance had prompted a social media campaign to find her, but she was discovered dead 75 metres into the tunnel two days later.
Her family claims she was 'let down' by TfL, whose procedures 'should have been there to help her'.
Poplar coroners' court was told Cunningham managed to get around the barrier of the station's northbound platform and enter the tunnel.
CCTV footage showed her repeatedly try to touch in through the exit ticket barriers before dropping her belongings and falling over while trying to pick them up.
However, an opportunity to stop her then was missed because a member of staff was on a 'comfort break', the inquest heard.
A member of staff later saw her walking dangerously close to the yellow line but missed the moment she walked onto the tracks because he had run to check on her.
Beccy Shepherd, Cunningham's sister, paid tribute to her outside court, saying: 'Sarah is not defined by how she died, but how she lived with compassion, humour, silliness, hope and boundless creativity.
'The family appreciates that Sarah made decisions that left her in a vulnerable situation that night. This does not take away from how badly she was let down by the people and procedures that should have been there to help her.'
Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for Inner North London, recorded a conclusion of accidental death but has issued TfL with a prevention of future deaths report.
Her findings will call into question whether Sir Sadiq Khan will be able to meet his target of ending deaths and serious injuries on the Tube network by 2041.
The court heard that Cunningham, from Wandsworth, south-west London, had recently returned from South Korea and was planning to take up an artist's residence in Cornwall this year. She had taken ketamine and cocaine and consumed alcohol before her death, the inquest heard.
Mehmet Boztepe, the station supervisor on the night of the death, told the court he had allowed his junior co-worker to take a meal break at about 3.15am, shortly before Cunningham arrived at the station, on the Northern Line Night Tube route.
While her behaviour prompted him to leave the station office so he could check on her, Mr Boztepe did not see the vital moment when she stepped into the tunnel because he was heading down to the platforms to find her.
He assumed she had boarded a train that left as he reached the platform, and did not see her despite walking around the station and checking outside. She is thought to have died at around 3.45am after being struck by the next scheduled Night Tube train.
London Underground manager, Dale Smith, in charge of the Jubilee and Northern Lines, told the court that Chalk Farm 'wasn't understaffed' on the night of Cunningham's death.
Clodagh Bradley KC, the Cunningham family's barrister, asked him: 'If your objective is to reduce the number of fatalities to zero in future, do you not need to be more proactive to safeguard against risk?'
Mr Smith replied: 'I think it's easy to say that he should have gone back to check that CCTV. If staff are in any doubt, the option is there to wind something back and view something. But in this situation [the supervisor] – he went down to check on the person, believed they got on the train – didn't deem that something they had to do.'
Claire Mann, TfL's chief operating officer, said: 'Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Sarah Cunningham, who tragically died at Chalk Farm Tube station on Nov 2 2024.
'We recognise the important role our staff play in protecting customers from harm and we will always take action to learn from incidents and improve operational safety.'
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