London mum-of-two lost arm and leg after being hit by two …
2 November 2023 at 6:49 pm
A London[1] mother lost her right arm and leg when she was run over by two London Undergound trains, after slipping on a platform and falling onto the tracks.
The horror accident happened as Sarah de Lagarde was travelling home from work on a rainy night, on September 30 last year.
As she rushed to catch a Northern Line train at High Barnet Underground Station, she slipped in a puddle on the wet platform, crashed into a stationary train and fell down the gap between the train and the platform.
She broke her nose and two front teeth in the fall. But nobody noticed what had happened, or heard her desperate cries for help.
“Then the train departed and took my right arm with it,” Mrs de Lagarde told Sky News[2] on Wednesday. “I was conscious throughout, and I shouted for help, and nobody heard me.
“A second train came onto the platform and claimed my right leg.”
Mrs de Lagarde said she envisioned her two young daughters telling her “mummy, you have to come home”, and was “determined” to get out alive.
It was 15 minutes before someone noticed Mrs de Lagarde and raised the alarm, and another hour before the rescue services were able to reach her.
Mrs de Lagarde says “many avoidable mistakes” by London Underground[3] operator Transport for London[4] (TfL) were to blame for the tragedy.
“I was told that switching off the power line took ages because nobody knew who to contact, so the paramedics couldn’t get under the train to get me out of there,” she told Sky News.
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“We are led to believe that CCTV is being watched live…Why are there no sensors on the tracks?…How come there is no staff in the stations?
“And I have to live with the fact now…to know that it could have been just a slip, and somebody could have found me, and I could have gotten away with a broken nose and two front teeth.”
Mrs de Lagarde says she hopes changes will be made on the back of her fall, adding: “I didn’t sacrifice an arm and a leg for nothing to happen on the back of it.”
She said the accident has had a “major impact” on her and those around her, including her daughters and husband.
“It’s been a really, really tough year,” she said. “There are days when everything’s so dark, that the thoughts of thinking ‘why did I even survive this?'”
Mrs de Lagarde says doctors told her she nearly died 10 times the night of the accident.
She now uses two prosthetic limbs, including a bionic arm funded through a Gofundme[5] page through which she raised nearly £300,000.
Nick Dent, Director of Customer Operations at London Underground, said: “Our thoughts continue to be with Sarah De Lagarde and her family following the devastating incident at High Barnet station last year.
“We have offered her direct support through our Sarah Hope line service and we remain receptive to Sarah’s views about the network.
“Safety is our top priority and we continue to take every possible measure to learn from any incident and put in place appropriate improvements.”
TfL said a full investigation was carried out by the Office of Rail and Road, and Rail Accident Investigation Branch.
The Office of Rail and Road investigated and confirmed in February its investigation was closed. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch decided not to investigate.
TfL said it continues to review where it might be appropriate for platform edge doors to be introduced.
References
- ^ London (www.standard.co.uk)
- ^ Sky News (news.sky.com)
- ^ London Underground (www.standard.co.uk)
- ^ Transport for London (www.standard.co.uk)
- ^ Gofundme (www.standard.co.uk)