Tram Driver cleared over Croydon crash
A tram driver's been cleared of failing to take reasonable care of passengers following a crash in Croydon in 2016 which killed seven people.
Alfred Dorris, who's now 49, was visibly emotional when he heard the verdict following just two hours of deliberation by the jury.
He was doing three times the speed he should have been going when his tram derailed on a sharp corner at Sandilands in south London on the morning of November 9 2016.
Mr Dorris denied he had a "micro-sleep" and said he became disorientated in the tunnel on approach to the curve, believing he was heading the other way.
His confusion was blamed on a combination of external factors including poor lighting and signage in the Sandilands tunnel complex, darkness and bad weather.
Transport for London (TfL) and Tram Operations Limited (ToL) have previously admitted health and safety offences relating to significant failings ahead of the catastrophic derailment and will be sentenced next month.
The people who died were Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, Robert Huxley, 63, and Philip Logan, 52, all from New Addington, and Donald Collett, 62, and Mark Smith, 35, both from Croydon.
Families of the victims had sat in court one of the Old Bailey or attended the trial by video-link from Croydon.
Speaking outside the court, Mr Smith's mother Jean said she was "gobsmacked" at the verdict and called for a "radical shake-up" of the judicial system.
She said: "At the end of the day, he may have been found not guilty, but he was driving that tram and nobody else was.
"We'll get over this, like we get over everything else, and we'll just carry on our lives. Unfortunately, it's a lot emptier without our Mark.
"There's going to be a little eight-year-old boy who's going to wonder why nobody's responsible for what happened to his daddy."
Father Colin Smith said: "It's just a burden of shame, basically, at the end of the day. Whoever was responsible for it is beside the point now it's been proven the other way."
Mr Collett's brother Joe there were "no winners at all" and also felt the system had let him down.
He added: "He had done the journey several thousand times and this day he said he had a bad day - but seven people had a worst day."
Philip Logan's granddaughter Danielle Wynne said: "A not guilty verdict to me is like someone stabbing me in the chest. It feels so deflating.
In a statement outside court, Mr Dorris of Beckenham, south-east London, said: "I woke up that morning and turned up for work as a professional tram driver.
"I had every intention to carry out my duties as a professional and that included to take reasonable care of my passengers and myself.
"Unfortunately, that morning went horribly wrong. And that was because of something I wasn't in control of.
"I am deeply and sincerely sorry I wasn't able to do anything to stop that tram from turning over.
"I'm sorry that some of you have lost someone. Some of you have had life-changing injuries and all of you have suffered and endured the mental trauma since the accident.
"I'm truly and deeply sorry. It's something that I am going to have to live with for the rest of my life. I would just like to end by saying there are no winners in this case."
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