06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47

30/07/25 06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Salisbury and Warminster.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

A man fleeing from police was electrocuted and then hit by a London Underground train which was searching for him, his inquest has heard.

Senior coroner Andrew Walker said Transport for London's (TfL) response was "inadequate" after Robert English, 32, was killed in May 2024 when he was walking along the track near Colindale station in north London following reports of a fight.

TfL staff had initially turned off the power supply but then restored it after police mistakenly believed Mr English had climbed over a fence that separated the station from a park, the inquest heard.

A Tube train that had been held stationary then began to search the track and ran him over.

Claire Mann, TfL's chief operating officer, said: "We are committed to working with policing partners and reviewing our own operational practices to learn from this incident."

Mr English was last seen at about 01:00 BST on 19 May but "made his way into the night beyond the station" after two officers "sought to contain him rather than restrain him", according to Mr Walker, senior coroner for northern London.

The 32-year-old was electrocuted before being run over by a search train about 500m (1,640ft) from the station.

Mr Walker said that the train "was not adequately equipped to conduct such a search in darkness and this response was inadequate".

The power was wrongly restored because the station manager confirmed that the police had left and Mr Walker was nowhere to be seen, having climbed a fence a left the track, the coroner said.



Mr Walker wrote that TfL had not followed its own rulebook, in particular by failing to tell "all the relevant people" that the power supply was about to be switched on.  He added: "This would have given the (Metropolitan) police and British Transport Police an opportunity to confirm that Mr English had not been found and was likely still on the railway side of the tracks.  It is likely that had this step been followed the power supply would not have been switched on and a proper search, which was also possible, is likely to have found Mr English and returned him safely to the station."

The police watchdog ruled in June 2024 that an investigation was not required.

In April, TfL was urged to deliver a "concrete plan" to prevent intoxicated passengers being killed on its network following the accidental death of an artist in a Tube tunnel after a night out in London.

Ms Mann added: "Our thoughts are with the friends and family of Robert English following his tragic death last year.  We undertook a formal investigation of the incident and assisted the coroner during the inquest.  We are thoroughly reviewing the coroner's prevention of future deaths report before responding in full and will consider any appropriate actions to make the transport network as safe as possible."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "We are considering the coroner's prevention of future deaths report."

Severn Beach line curving left just after leaving Sea Mills to the left to cross the Severn and after the bridge running pretty much straight into the existing Portbury freight line well before Ham Green.

The seagulls, or the water pistols? 

A man has been arrested after a teenager was raped in a toilet on a train in south-east London, British Transport Police (BTP) said.

The 17-year-old girl was attacked after boarding a Thameslink train towards Abbey Wood from Woolwich Arsenal railway station at about 06:10 BST on 19 July, having been sexually assaulted on the platform five minutes beforehand.

The man left the network at Abbey Wood while the girl continued to Slade Green station and later reported the incident to police.

BTP said a 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of rape and taken into custody. He was later released on bail pending further inquiries.

Officers are appealing for anyone who was at Woolwich Arsenal station and may have seen the pair on the platform, or anyone who saw them on the train, to contact police immediately.

I doubt the Local Authority safety inspection would involve a in depth mechanical, electrical inspection, observing full operation by all the operators, setting up etc. More likely it will be an audit of the HS File, inspection, maintenance and repair reports, records of operator training, management of safety policy.  The Local Authority would unlikely have the skill staff, resources and time to carry out a full inspection of every ride and machine.

Under the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998, the local authority is generally the enforcing authority for leisure activities.

National Association for Leisure Industry Certification

NAFLIC is the UK trade association for amusement ride inspectors and other companies and individuals who provide inspection and maintenance services to ride owners, controllers and operators. Members are qualified in all aspects of amusement ride inspection and all are registered with ADIPS, the Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme, which is fully endorsed and supported by the Health and Safety Executive.

The membership also includes others who provide valuable input into the inspection and maintenance aspects of rides and attractions, such as manufacturers and suppliers. Additionally, NAFLIC provides technical assistance and advice to the amusement park and travelling fairground industry.

These fairs have to have a council-led HSE inspection before they are allowed to open each time - the council issues a licence to operate.

I suspect Netley council is holding its breath....

Not being an engineer:

regarding the Portishead line crossing the river to the Severn Beach line,
 how far back down the line to Portishead line would the climb have had to start to get level with the current road bridge
and how far down the Severn beach rail line be to get it level towards Bristol.

The Avonmouth M5 bridge has a 30m clearance over the river (not sure at what tide state) so you would need about 1km ramps on each side at 1 in 30, or 2 km for 1 in 60.  

On the outside terrace at The Idle Rocks hotel in St Mawes there are water pistols on the tables which are very effective in deterring seagulls landing on the wall and eyeing up your food.