Person hit by train at Portslade station - 16 February 2013

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From The Argus:

A person has reportedly been hit by a train at Portslade train station.

Eye witness reports say that a man in his 30s tried to cross the track at the station and was pinned by a train which was just leaving the station.

Paramedics and firefighters are at Portslade Railway Station in Portland Road and an air ambulance has landed at nearby EDF Energy offices.

Southern Rail are reporting that train services at Portslade are being disrupted due to a person hit by a train between Shoreham and Brighton.

The train firm say there will be delays between Hove and Worthing until further notice.

[Brucey]

References by staff were referring to "injured person" rather than using a term to suggest something more fatal.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Brighton and Hove News:

Man hit by train at Portslade Station

A man has been hit by a train at Portslade Station this afternoon (Saturday 16 February), according to the train operator Southern.

A British Transport Police (BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)) spokesman said: ^BTP officers were called to the Portslade Railway Station on Saturday 16 February after a report that a person had been struck by a train.

^Officers from BTP and Sussex Police attended the incident, which was reported to BTP at 2.15pm and is currently being treated as non-suspicious.

^Medics from the South East Coast Ambulance Service also attended and the person has been taken to the Royal Sussex Hospital.

^The train involved was a Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour service. The line was handed back to Network Rail at 3.20pm.^

[Chris from Nailsea]

An update, from The Argus:

Man pinned to railway platform after being crushed by train at Portslade Station

Passengers watched in horror as a train pinned a man to a railway platform as he tried to cross the tracks at a station.

The man was seen walking calmly across the line with shopping bags in his hands at Portslade Station. He had reached the other side and was trying to haul himself up onto the other platform when a train heading towards Southwick left the station and crushed him.

Onlookers said they feared the man would have been killed if the train driver had not stopped so suddenly.


Emergency services at the scene on Saturday ^ picture by Allan Jempson

Paramedics and firefighters from Lewes, Preston Circus and Hove took about 20 minutes to free the man who was semi-conscious and in great pain throughout the rescue, shortly before 3pm on Saturday (February 16).

The man, who is believed to be 32 and from Brighton, is said to have suffered life-threatening injuries. He was in Royal Sussex County Hospital last night (February 18).

Southern reported that services were disrupted between Shoreham and Brighton for up to an hour following the incident.

A friend of the man contacted The Argus to say the victim had been sedated on Saturday and was suffering from a broken pelvis and internal bleeding.  He said: ^I had just dropped him off from the pub to the station when I saw on Facebook someone saying that a man wearing a white tracksuit had been hit on the train line. I have no idea why he was on the track. He must have been crossing to get to the other side.^

EDF employee Marcus Webber, from Brighton, saw the man walk across the tracks.  He added: ^The Southwick train started moving and he started screaming. I was at the crossing with other people including some kids and when he got trapped they screamed. I remember seeing the doors close and the train being ready to go before he walked in front of it. There is an underpass at the station so there was no reason for him to do it.^

Allan Jempson, 58, from the Knoll estate in Hove, said: ^He got to the front of the train, right in the blind spot of the driver, and then the train started to pull out and everybody was just shouting and screaming at the driver to stop. He got rolled a couple of times but luckily the driver stopped just in time. If he had picked up more speed, the man would have been a goner. The guy was completely oblivious to it all.^

Watch commander Stuart Black, from Hove fire station, said: ^He was semi-conscious and in a lot of pain throughout and has suffered serious injuries. He was trapped between the side of the train and the platform edge by his chest.^

Labour Portslade councillor Bob Carden said: ^I cannot believe that anybody would do something like that but well done to the emergency services for getting him out. I wish the guy well and hope he recovers but it^s the driver and staff I feel sorry for because of the stress of having to deal with something like that.^

A Southern spokeswoman said: ^Crossing live railway tracks at any time is extremely dangerous. Passengers should always use designated underpasses and footbridges at stations when crossing from one platform to another.^

[Chris from Nailsea]

A sad update, from The Argus:

Man, 32, pinned by train in Portslade has died

A man passenger who was pinned by a train at a railway station after trying to take a short cut across the tracks has died.

Woody Scott died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, on Wednesday morning with his family at his bedside.

Yesterday (February 21), friends paid tribute to the father-of-three who was pinned between a train and the platform at Portslade on Saturday (February 16).

Close friend Davro Johnson dropped off the 32-year-old from Brighton at the station and said he regretted not giving him a lift to Worthing. He said he had been joking with ^ladies^ man^ Mr Scott in hospital how the incident would make a good chat-up line for women.

Mr Scott had lived in Brighton for the past ten years and had five brothers and sisters including two nine-year-old twin sisters who lived with his mother in Elm Grove, Brighton.

Mr Johnson, 31, from Portslade, said: ^He was catching a train to Worthing to meet a female friend. I dropped him off at the station and helped him with his bags. I saw the barriers going down and said to him you^ve got to hurry or you^ll miss your train. He got on the wrong platform and realised that the train he was supposed to be getting on was going from the other platform. Sometimes he could be a little impatient.^

Another friend, Sharon Donaghue, said: ^I just can't believe he has gone. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him.^