Edinburgh man died on London Underground track after being run over by four trains

A man from Edinburgh who died on the London Underground tracks was run over by four trains, an investigation has found.

Brian Mitchell fell and stumbled onto the track at Stratford Station on the Jubilee line on Boxing Day in 2023 and was struck by a train five minutes later.

Shortly before 2pm, he got off a train at the station and sat on a platform bench for 48 minutes before falling.

The 72-year-old lay undiscovered on the track before a further three inbound trains entered the terminal platform and passed through.

The man, originally from Edinburgh, was living in West London at the time of the incident.

An investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) found there were no other passengers or staff present on the platform when he fell.

It was said that the operator of the first train did not see the passenger on the track ahead as it arrived at the platform.

RAIB found the operator “may also have been distracted by the presence of another operator who was standing on the platform” as the first train arrived.

The investigation made two recommendations to London Underground, including considering the use of technology that can detect if a passenger is in a dangerous position and to be able to halt trains.

The report states: “The consequences of the accident were made more severe because the operator of the second inbound train to arrive at the platform also did not see the passenger, while the operator of the third inbound train saw something when they were arriving at the platform, but did not recognise what they saw as being a person.

“The fourth inbound train was not stopped by a customer service assistant who was present on the platform when it was entering the station, even though the assistant was by now aware that a person was on the track.

“Although the operator of the fourth inbound train had independently recognised that there was a person on the track, they did not stop their train.

“The train operators working the trains in the outbound direction were not aware of the passenger because the passenger was underneath their respective trains before they departed.”

Lilli Matson, chief safety officer for Transport for London – which is responsible for London Underground, said its “thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Mitchell.”

She went on: “We welcome the recommendations from the RAIB’s independent investigation into this incident, which align with the findings of our own internal investigation, and work has already begun to implement them.

“We will always strive to learn from incidents and improve operational safety, including by ensuring relevant regulatory bodies are immediately informed, carrying out thorough and extensive internal investigations and prioritising taking action on any recommendations from any review.

“While serious injuries on our network are rare, we are undertaking a huge range of work to eradicate such incidents and make the network even safer for everyone.”