Thank you forum members

[Monica]

Not a railway employee... (please don't hate me for that!) but...

I'm doing an MA in creative writing, and my final project involves a series of short stories around a fatality at a station. One of the things I wanted to bring out is how this affects the driver, and what happens in such an event.

So I really just wanted to you to know that the threads and individual posts on this forum have been invaluable for providing background information to the storyline. I have learned a huge amount, and had some invaluable input from a driver manager (probably not on this forum, but who knows?!) on procedure to make sure my info is correct.

So - on behalf of all the people who haven't a clue and never think about it - thank you all, for doing what you do.

 

[ijmad]

Just as an additional resource:

There's an episode of The Tube (a TV series about London Underground) that deals with the aftermath of a 'One Under' as TfL calls them. There's quite a lot of talk with Driver Karen about the emotional impact it had on her.

I found it very touching.

 

[Monica]

thank you very much for that info.

 

[reddragon]

This is the NR training video for PTS. Many on retest walk out as it is too real to events they have experienced.

 

[Kingspanner]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I have thought carefully before typing. My intention is be compassionate.
In an earlier life I worked as a crime scene investigator for a civil police force through whose territory ran a length of the ECML. When fatalities occurred on the railway BTP could often supply officers effectively as escorts on the track but relied on county forces for specialist assistance.
I attended about a dozen deaths on the track, to photograph the scene, assist with body recovery, and undertake the often challenging identification procedures on the deceased.
The majority were suicides but there was at least one accident, in the dark with a drunk walking his dog in the four foot, hit by a quiet electric train from behind on a curve.
One woman jumped in front of a non stop train in a station in front of dozens of witnesses who stampeded through the barrier and out of the station.It was 9.30 in the morning. On this occasion I had the responsibilty of assisting a railway manager with the delicate task of getting the driver out of his cab and persuading him to walk with us back in the direction of the impact so that we could get him into the station and away. (We had removed the body by then and I remember a gang of track workers walked up and turned the bloodstained ballast over as it was visible from the platform. Salt of the Earth practical types). .Anyway we had to prise the driver's fingers from the controls and offer endless reassurance and physical support to get him moving.He was unable to speak throughout the walk and indeed was unable to speak at the inquest a few days later where he was called as a witness. This I observed was common-drivers often could only answer with nods or headshakes, at least one sobbed continuously in front of the Coroner. At an inquest of course witnesses relive key moments, in a sense the deceased lives again in the minds of those present, if only briefly.
I have seen terrible things but was always called to them, that is I had some warning of what I was going to. Sometimes I felt bad afterwards, but I came to realise that no matter what I felt there were others who felt infinitely worse - the relative getting the death message from a constable on the doorstep, or the train driver with a ringside seat at a tragedy.