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IRISH RAIL HAS an “absolute requirement” to warn its customers to mind gaps between trains and platforms when getting on and off trains, a Circuit Civil Court has said.
Circuit Court President Justice Raymond Groarke made the remark after hearing a legal action by fisherman John Mooney against Irish Rail for a triple fracture he suffered on his right shoulder when he fell though the gap between the train entrance and the platform at Tara Street Station in Dublin.
Mooney told the court that on 2 August, 2012, he was travelling on a commuter train from Dun Laoghaire with the intention to get off at Connolly Station in Dublin.
He said he dismounted at Tara Street by mistake and when he realised his error, he tried to re-board the train. He had slipped and fallen through the gap, on the train tracks.
Conor Bowman SC, counsel for Mooney, said his client suffered a triple fracture in the accident but managed to haul himself out of the gap and re-board the train. He had reported the incident to Irish Rail staff when he got off at Connolly Station.
Irish Rail denied liability and claimed Mooney had been distracted and had failed to look where he was going. It alleged that the CCTV footage of the incident had been destroyed because it “showed nothing.”
Mooney, of St Michael’s Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, said he had needed to return home that day due to pain in his shoulder.
He had attended St Michael’s Hospital, George Street Lower in Dun Laoghaire the next day where X-rays revealed the fractures. He said he had ongoing pain in his shoulder.
11 accidents
Bowman said Irish Rail accident reports showed that 11 accidents involving people falling through a gap had happened during the five years before Mooney’s accident.
He said it was extraordinary that despite the fact that Mooney had reported the incident and despite the fact that there are “probably more CCTV cameras at Tara Street Station than there are at Pinewood Studios,” no CCTV footage of the incident was available.
Counsel said that once Mooney had bought his ticket, he was entitled to travel safely and that obligation had not been met by Irish Rail.
Judge Groarke, hearing that train drivers were responsible for delivering an audio warning to ‘mind the gap,’ said he was satisfied that there had been no evidence that in this case the driver did so.
The judge said there was a serious danger that if someone fell through the gap, the train driver might not be able to see them:
I recognise that Mr Mooney, having got off the train at the wrong station, may have been distracted, but that is why it is all the more important that there should be a warning to remind people to be careful of the gap.
He said he was satisfied Irish Rail was negligent. Initially awarding Mooney €50,000 damages, Judge Groarke said he should have been more careful and was therefore 50% liable for the accident, and reduced his award to €25,000.
Jesus! So a grown adult must be constantly reminded every single time to actually look where they are going. Ridiculous.
@The Bob:
No wonder insurance is crazy, and the legal profession and Judges are more complicit in this than anyone.
Yep, the death of common sense.
Yes and they’ve been doing it in London for decades. I’m partially sighted and without warning i fall in these gaps
Good point Shane, I see it as no different than trucks legally needing a beep while reversing or restaurants being required to list allergens. I’m not saying I think this guy deserves what he got but I think it can only be a good thing that Irish rail will now warn people, if only for the benefit of more vulnerable people who might be at risk. It should really have been a requirement already.
OMG ! Are you now expected to look where you are going while trying to listen to music and send an email at the same time ?
Well in comparison to the other stations, the gap is significantly wider. If you weren’t expecting it you could very well fall. They always remind passengers about that gap now.
I stupidly managed to fracture my wrist on Dublin Bus a few years ago.. you’d be amazed the amount of people who advised I should make a claim even though I was being careless. I decided to accept that I was a plonker and move on instead. No regrets.
Tara Street station is on a bend in the tracks so the platform is curved meaning the gap is significantly wider than normal. If you’re not aware of that it can pose a significant danger.
To the Dart station, without further delay!
But mind the gap Eyepopper.
@Trisha Tully:
Mind it carefully-as you pass through..
Neither of you two are Irish Rail employees, so your advice doesn’t count!
You’re right Eyepopper, it wouldn’t stand up in a court of law. You would need to have a tape of being warned to mind the gap by an Irish Rail driver.
In other news tea is hot!!
Every time i am on a Train there is a clear announcement to “mind the gap” both in Irish/English when disembarking the train. Does this mean someone who dosent understand English very well like Spanish/Polish could sue as they didn’t understand the language. Making Irish Rail negligent.
Seems very strange there was no CCTV whatsoever shown from the Station or Train in the Court.
Who’s idea was it to “destroy” all footage?
I think the court may have seen the destroying of the CCTV as a demonstrated admission of guilt by Irish Rail.
Is this a joke? Man makes mistake and sues the DART. Becoming more and more like the claim culture in the USA. As if everyone isn’t aware there is a gap between the train and platform.
You may be aware but not everyone is.
Shane do they also need mind the step announcements for stairs? Mind the door announcements? Heck they should have mind the tracks announcements and mind the trains announcements.
@Shane Hickey: Does everyone need to be told to look where they are going every step they take? No excuse for any regular joe soap to not be in charge of their own limbs. Did your partner tell you to be careful getting out of bed this morning? Could be worth looking into whether or not you can make a claim.
I can’t see how they could remind you more than they do. There are notices on the train and an audible warning.
@Liam Coyle: well ‘audible’ is a stretch on some days. Some of the announcers are completely unintelligible.
Not only is there a ‘please mind the gap’ recorded announcement approaching Tara st., the driver usually announces it too. And it’s painted on the platform. Don’t see how Irish rail could be liable.
Unfortunately Ireland is fast becoming a claim nation… anyway to get money… you are seeing it more and more..
He is 50% liable … do does that mean Irish rail can sue him for costs now as well to cover them paying out for this?
Never heard where 2 parties are equally liable but yet only 1 party is paying out
@fintolini: Not sure it’s the case that he was liable as such, i think the term is “contributory negligence” where while someone else cocked up in the first place, the fact that you were careless yourself contributed to it, and reduces the award, but doesn’t change the fact of the original cock up. If lawyers talked like that, life would be more fun.
True that :-)
Just took if from article where is stated the judge said he was 50% liable for accident but I guess that may be Miss representing word for word what the judge actually said.
Still … it’s all madness. Sometimes I think I’m too honest when I’m in a small knock or accident and just get on with things
Bing bong…. ” A safety announcement for all passengers…gravity exists”.
Guess what folks, we’ll end up paying for it more people decide to pull this number.
Here we go again! Another payout for something outrageous.
It’s not like the gap was a surprise to the man. He crossed it twice successfully (getting on the train & mistakenly getting off). Yes, the gap at Tara is big but come on guys.
Irish Rail do quite a bit to make passengers aware of the gap so don’t give me that crap “the drivers should announce it”. Waiting for the day we see staff taking passengers by the hand and carefully walking them over the gap. It can’t be justified that this incident would of been prevented if Irish Rail had done more.
Seeing more and more of these articles on The Journal (keep em coming to be honest, love a good rant)
Lol Karl. We all love a good rant. Thank God for The Journal giving us the opportunity to do so as I can’t get away with it at work.
When did we stop taking responsibility for our own actions… This is bloody ridiculous. When I think of the number of times I have slipped,tripped or done something stupid I could be a millionaire but I would rather be responsible for my own actions.
Irish Rail made an arbitrary decision to destroy the CCTV footage???????
Not very clever.
Actually Highly Suspicious.
The platform at Tara Street is curved, and the gao is much wider in some parts than others. Try negotiating it without good eyesight and you might be more understanding
Try getting off at your right stop Neal not Neil so that you’re not hurrying to get back on the train & not being careful where you’re going.
@Neal not Neil: Understanding of suing the train company for the gaps between trains and platforms? This is just a fact of railway stations across the world.
The only solution I can see is that Irish Rail redesign and rebuild all their trains and platforms costing billions to suit the occassional moron who blames the world around him for not being able to survive without constant idiot proofing.
And regarding warnings to passengers, they’re everywhere. You hear and read the warnings non-stop.
If the man needs reminders every 15 seconds that there are gaps between trains and platforms he should stay at home where it’s safer.
It’s not the same across the world; nobody else builds acutely curved platforms as they increase the size of the gap and therefore increase the risk. The risk at Tara Street is greater and Irish rail have an obligation to manage that risk. Treating it the same as other stations was a failure to carry out a proper risk assessment. If they’re smart they’ll do one now.
The man is a fisherman – how is he still alive at this stage? No big booming voice to “mind the gap” on boats.
The gap at Tara street is huge- my eighty year old mother in law has developed what amounts to a phobia about travelling by Dart ever since she got a scare when alighting at Tara street. She’s active enough, but only five foot tall, and a bit stiff in the joints. It has puzzled me for a long time that there hasn’t been a lot of people suing. Time they sorted it out.
Maybe he was distracted by somebody sucking one of his friends?
He was allegedly listening to a Thompson Twins album on his mp3 player..
Know it well. In fairness it’s a flipping death trap. The cost of changing the northbound platform in particular would run into tens of millions so it’s probably cheaper to accept a few serious injuries. It’s incredibly badly designed…a curved platform….ffs
The gap can be substantial in certain areas. I saw a woman disappear down the gap at Connolly and end up on the tracks! Luckily she was able to stand up and we lifted her out before the train moved! Curved platforms and straight trains cause gaps, not rocket science! Only happened 11 times my arse!! Staff only bothered to file reports 11 times more like!
To be fair, you could break your neck on public transport in this country..buses with broken seats, bottles rolling around the floor, glass and plastic… windows not working, won’t open in summer, close in winter…there is no attention to detail in the presentation of the vehicles , trains or otherwise…once that’s the standard of things, it spreads to all aspects and hence, cases like this arise…
Normal for Dublin. The rest of the country value public transport. Nothing stopping us from picking up bottles and putting them in the bin at every bus stop. Try it yourself!
You should see the gap in Drogheda. Its really dangerous. I’m very cautious getting on and off the train but I see elderly people having difficulty its another accident waiting to happen as not only do you really hawto stretch across you have to step up too.
I have fallen through that gap once and another one at Connolly Station. Luckily on both occasions I suffered nothing more than shock.
Should have gone to Specsavers !
In a lot of countries, what they do to avoid this issue is to build the platforms right next to where the train will be.
Bet the gap between northsiders & southsiders is wider than the gap at Tara …commented
Perhaps we should put up signs in parks to warn people of the ditches and the trees and the benches and the walls and the slopes and the grass and the flower beds and the birds and the joggers and the walkers and the prams and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Cha-Ching
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