A woman who lost her right arm and leg after being hit by two Tube trains on her way home from work has called on Sadiq Khan to meet her to discuss safety problems.
Sarah de Lagarde, who lives in Camden Town, slipped on a wet, uneven platform at High Barnet station in September 2022, and fell down the gap between the train and the platform “into the darkness”.
The 46-year-old mother broke her nose and two front teeth, but there were no staff around and nobody heard her cries for help.
She was hit by two separate trains before she was found and rushed to hospital, where she had to have an arm and a leg amputated.
She now uses two prosthetic limbs, including a bionic arm.
Sarah, who works in communications, claims Transport for London (TfL) has an “outdated” attitude to safety, and has launched a legal battle against it, saying it has not accepted responsibility for what happened.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is chairman of the TfL board, which Sarah said has turned down her requests for a meeting despite an intervention by her MP and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Recalling her accident, she said outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday (February 7): “There were no staff on that platform, and no-one was watching CCTV. No-one had responded to my screams for help.
“Twenty-two tonnes of steel crushed my limbs, and, if that wasn’t bad enough, I remained on the tracks undetected until the second train came into the station, crushing me for a second time.
“A few weeks before I was hit by the two Tube trains, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with my husband, which was a lifelong dream of mine.
“I felt on top of the world, and overnight all that changed. I am now severely disabled for life.”
After giving her statement to the media, Sarah walked up the steps of the court to formally lodge her legal case.
She said TfL’s conclusion that her accident was “unique” is wrong, and believes the organisation’s leadership needs an “urgent" wake-up call.
She added: “TfL initially concluded that I fell because I was drunk and wearing high heels, neither of which were true.
“Is TfL above the law?
“TfL simply say that this was a series of unfortunate and unique events that resulted in the injured person sustaining life-changing injuries.
“TfL deny any moral or legal responsibility for my accident."
She said despite Sir Keir Starmer's intervention, Mr Khan’s office turned her requests down. "They felt a meeting was inappropriate," she said.
“There needs to be an independent and comprehensive review of TfL safety procedures so that meaningful lessons can be learned.”
Sarah said she has been contacted by “hundreds of people” who have either been injured or have experienced a near-miss on the Underground network.
“Last week’s Victoria bus crash is the latest example of such an incident,” she added.
“Why is this still happening?”
Her solicitor, Thomas Jervis, partner at law firm Leigh Day, said: “I am at a loss to understand why there is such a closed approach to doing better in terms of safety.
“These are not just statistics, they are human beings. We are talking about people’s lives. Sarah and all users of London’s transport network deserve so much better.”
An investigation into Sarah's accident carried out by TfL and the Office of Rail and Road Accident Investigation Branch concluded no further investigation was necessary.
Nick Dent, director of customer operations at London Underground, said: “TfL is responding to a legal claim which has been brought by solicitors on behalf of Sarah De Lagarde and I am not in a position to comment publicly further.
“However, our thoughts continue to be with Sarah and her family following the devastating incident at High Barnet station and we have offered her direct support.
“Safety is our top priority and we continue to take every possible measure to learn from any incident and put in place appropriate improvements.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here