A significant fine has been imposed on Great Western Railway (GWR) amounting to £1 million for violating health and safety regulations following the death of a young woman, Bethan Roper. The incident occurred on December 1, 2018, when Roper, aged 28, suffered a fatal head injury after leaning out of a droplight window and striking her head against a tree branch while traveling on a train near Twerton in Bath.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) prosecuted GWR, noting that the company was aware of the risks associated with droplight windows. It failed to implement necessary safety measures identified in a risk assessment conducted two months prior to the incident. GWR pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching health and safety law, prompting the financial penalty and an additional payment of £78,000.
Roper, a resident of Penarth and an employee of the Welsh Refugee Council, was reportedly intoxicated while returning from a Christmas shopping trip in Bath, as noted in an inquest held in 2021. Investigators indicated that the existing safety warning above the window—stating “Caution do not lean out of window when train is moving”—did not serve as an adequate deterrent.
The case has drawn parallels to a similar incident in 2016 when another passenger died near Balham, London. It led to safety recommendations issued by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch in May 2017. GWR’s risk assessment, which acknowledged droplight windows as a major safety concern, was not revised, and appropriate actions to mitigate risks were not implemented before Roper’s death.
In response to the incident, rail industry measures have since been adopted to prevent passengers from leaning out of these windows, including withdrawing affected trains from service and installing engineering controls to restrict window operation while trains are moving. The ORR has expressed support for these actions aimed at enhancing passenger safety.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20ej7rkj3ko?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss