Alfred Dorris denies failing to take reasonable care at work (Picture: PA/Rex)
A passenger ‘genuinely feared for their safety’ just 10 days before the Croydon tram disaster, the Old Bailey has heard.
Driver Alfred Dorris, 49, is on trial accused of failing to take reasonable care of himself and his passengers when his tram derailed on November 9 2016.
It’s alleged he was travelling more than three times the speed he should have been when the tram toppled over at the sharp corner near Sandilands, south London.
Seven people were killed in the crash and 62 were injured, 19 seriously.
The seven victims were Dane Chinnery, Donald Collett, Robert Huxley, Philip Logan, Dorota Rynkiewicz, Philip Seary and Mark Smith.
The trial continued today and Sarah Claypole, a senior manager at the time, said she didn’t know about an alleged ‘near miss’ which happened on October 31 – 10 days before the disaster.
When defence barrister Miles Bennett asked if she was ‘now aware since the incident there was a near miss in an identical location at a similar time on October 31 with another driver’, Mrs Claypole replied she was ‘not aware’.
Mr Bennett asked what she would have done if she had been told ‘a driver had gone round the corner at Sandilands at such a speed that the wheels on the left-hand side of the tram actually lifted off the track’.
Dorris was driving the tram when it derailed (Picture: PA)
Seven people were killed (Picture: Invicta Kent Media/Shutterstock)
It’s alleged the tram went too fast round a sharp bend (Picture: PA)
Mrs Claypole said she would have collected evidence to verify the report, carried out an investigation and looked into any ‘mitigating features’.
She agreed with Mr Bennett that if this had happened it would have been of ‘huge concern’.
Mr Bennett added: ‘On October 31 2016, some nine to 10 days before, a passenger indicated such was their concerns that they genuinely feared for their safety.’
Mrs Claypole had previously met Dorris during a routine ‘cab ride’ with him before the disaster, and said she was ‘impressed by his attitude to safety’ and noted ‘he was putting safety first’.
She told jurors she was ‘surprised’ to hear he was the driver involved in the Croydon tram disaster, because she had been ‘very impressed’ with him and got the impression that he was ‘proud to be a driver’.
Dorris, from Beckenham, denies a single charge of failing to take reasonable care at work under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The trial continues.
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Sarah Claypole, a senior manager at the time, said she didn’t know about an alleged ‘near miss’ which happened 10 days before the disaster.
