Great Western Railway fined £1 million for death of a passenger

Great Western Railway (GWR) has been fined £1 million and ordered to pay more than £78,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety law, following an investigation and prosecution by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

The case relates to a fatal incident near Twerton on 1 December 2018, when 28-year-old Bethan Roper suffered a fatal head injury after placing her head outside a droplight window of a moving GWR train and striking a tree branch. Droplight windows, found on trains with slam doors, can be lowered to open.

In 2016, a passenger died in a similar incident near Balham, south London. Following that accident, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) issued safety recommendations in May 2017.

Although GWR was aware of a number of previous incidents, the company did not produce a written risk assessment for droplight windows until September 2017. That assessment identified the hazard as one of the most significant passenger safety risks. Some of the actions GWR had identified to reduce the risk were not implemented before the fatal accident in 2018.

Following Ms Roper’s death, further safety recommendations were issued across the rail industry to prevent passengers from leaning out of droplight windows. As a result, all rolling stock operated by train companies with droplight windows has since either been withdrawn from service or fitted with engineering controls to prevent windows being opened while trains are moving.

Richard Hines, ORR’s Chief Inspector of Railways, said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Bethan Roper. Her death was a preventable tragedy that highlights the need for train operators to proactively manage risks and act swiftly when safety recommendations are made to keep their passengers safe. Our investigation found that GWR fell short in its responsibilities, and this prosecution reflects the serious consequences of that failure. We welcome the actions taken since by GWR and the wider industry to reduce the risks. Safety must always remain the first priority across Britain’s railways.”