Neelan Malik became caught up in a closed door of a train when she rushed to get on. Photo / Rail Accident Investigations Branch
Neelan Malik became caught up in a closed door of a train when she rushed to get on. Photo / Rail Accident Investigations Branch
A UK passenger was pulled over and dragged along a platform after a train driver left a station with her hand trapped in a door, a court heard.
Stephen Murdoch, 45, left the platform even though Neelan Malik was caught up in a closed door, forcing her to run and keep up, it was alleged.
Malik managed to free herself from the doors just before she reached the end of the platform and fell to the ground, suffering severe bruising, reported the Daily Telegraph.
The 60-year-old had arrived just as the train was leaving from Hayes and Harlington station in west London at around 1pm on July 25, 2015.
As she rushed to get on, she put her hand out as the door closed in the last carriage of the train and was held trapped for at least nine seconds before the train moved off, the court heard. Other passengers looked on as she ran alongside before her hand came free.
Murdoch is on trial at Blackfriars Crown Court accused of failing to carry out proper safety checks before driving off.
He is charged with endangering the safety of rail passengers, by wilful omission or neglect by failing to check the length of the train was clear before leaving the station.
The jury was played CCTV footage of the moment Malik got her hand trapped as she ran to catch the train and was then dragged along the platform.
She told the court: "You say to yourself you are very lucky to be alive. Just a matter of seconds, if my hand hadn't come out I would have been off the platform onto the electrical wires or something."
Neelan Malik put her hand out to get into the last carriage of the train. Photo / Rail Accident Investigations Branch
Neelan Malik became caught up in a closed door of a train when she rushed to get on. Photo / Rail Accident Investigations Branch
The driver is accused of failing to carry out proper safety checks before driving off. Photo / Rail Accident Investigations Branch
Neelan Malik became caught up in a closed door of a train, falling to the ground when she managed to free herself. Photo / Rail Accident Investigations Branch
Prosecutor Adam Pearson said: "It was fortunate she was not more seriously injured than she was. If this defendant, the driver of that train, had been performing his job properly he would have seen that lady trapped in the doors and would not have pulled away.
"In essence what he failed to do was the proper safety checks to ensure the safety of the passengers of that train about to board."
The court was told there are no guards on trains and drivers of the trains have CCTV monitors to check the length of the train to make sure the doors are shut properly.
Following the incident, the train company checked the door safety light in the driver's cab, which indicates when doors are all shut properly.
It was found if a passenger's hand or arm was stuck in the door, the light in the driver's cab would not indicate there was an obstruction, the court heard.
In a police interview, Murdoch said he carried out all the proper checks and the safety lights did not indicate there was an obstruction in the door and it was safe for him to power up and move off, it was said.
Before moving away, he said he checked the CCTV and safety light one more time and he "was not aware of Ms Malik being stuck in the train door".
Murdoch, of Reading, Berkshire, denies the single charge. The trial continues.
This story originally appeared on the Daily Telegraph and is reproduced with permission.
