Lack of tactile paving led to blind Londoners death

A jury has concluded a lack of tactile paving at a train station in south-east London led to the death of a blind man who fell onto the tracks.

Cleveland Gervais was struck by a train at Eden Park station in February 2020.

A jury at South London Coroner's Court concluded on Tuesday that lack of warning surface "more than minimally contributed" to his death.

The inquest at South London Coroner’s Court also found an avoidable delay had been caused in getting to the 53 year old.

Emergency services waited before going onto the track because of confusion about if it was still live.

The jury was told the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and British Transport Police (BTP) arrived at around 7.18pm, but paramedics did not access Mr Gervais until 7.28pm. By the time he had been taken off the tracks, he was no longer breathing.

Jurors heard emergency services waited until a specialist Rail Incident Officer (RIO) attended to physically confirm the electricity was off before going onto the rail, which is not typically required.

BTP Sergeant Stephen Hewitt, who attended the scene, described the incident as "traumatic", but said he would not have acted differently in hindsight because of the "complex" and dangerous nature of the incident.

"Every incident has to be treated on its own merits and individually risk assessed, this one being one of the most complex in terms of access and it had a much higher risk because of the contact that was required with the live rail," the officer told jurors.

"As traumatic of an incident as this was for everyone involved, in my mind there is nothing that I could have done to have sped up access to Mr Gervais."

Mr Gervais, who was from Trinidad and Tobago and lived in Lambeth, south London, used a walking stick, had six per cent vision in one eye and no vision in the other.

His partner of almost two decades, Sekha Hall, remembered him as a "loving family man" while calling for stations to be made safer for disabled passengers.

He said he hoped his death would act 'as a catalyst for change'.

"The rail companies and the rail industry in general have a duty to make things safer for blind and visually impaired passengers. They should be able to travel with the same amount of care that any other rail users travels with."

"I'm devastated by the loss of Cleveland, my heart has been broken and the nature of his death will never leave me. It will never leave the witnesses who were there and my heart goes out to the train driver."

"Every time I see a train when I'm sitting at a station I count how many wheels went over him. I'll never get away from that it will haunt me for the rest of my life."

Matt Stringer, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) chief executive, said Mr Gervais' death was not an isolated incident.

Mr Stringer said: "We welcome this week's inquest as an opportunity for essential lessons to be learned, so that such a senseless tragedy never happens again.

"Cleveland's death was not an isolated incident.

"We are aware of several similar occurrences where the lack of tactile paving may have contributed to blind or partially sighted people falling onto railway tracks.

"Tactile paving is not just an accessibility measure, it is fundamental to the health and safety of passengers and pedestrians.

"There should be no train platforms without tactile paving."

Mr Stringer welcomed Network Rail's recent announcement that it plans to speed up the installation of tactile paving on all British train platforms - but added this is still subject to funding from the Department for Transport.

He urged the department's Rail minister Wendy Morton to confirm the funding "as soon as possible".

Kate Egerton, solicitor at Leigh Day, said: "We have heard how Cleveland was an outgoing and sociable man who enjoyed travelling within London to meet his friends independently.

"He should have been safe to do this but his inquest this week has sadly heard that the lack of tactile paving at Eden Park station, and lack of any risk mitigation measures, made it a dangerous place for him and anyone else with visual impairments."

She added: "It was concerning to hear that despite national guidance on tactile paving being in place since 1998, that Network Rail do not consider that they have any legal duties to install it across the network.

"While we understand that plans for installing tactile paving across the rail network have been accelerated following Cleveland's death, it is unacceptable that platforms are not consistently safe for passengers with disabilities."

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