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IN TOUCH – The Death Of Blind Rail User Cleveland Gervais

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TX:Ìý 23.02.2021Ìý 2040-2100

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PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý MIKE YOUNG

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White

Good evening.Ìý Tonight, we focus on the death of Cleveland Gervais.Ìý Now Cleveland was blind and one year ago he fell from the platform edge and was struck by a train at Eden Park Station in Southeast London.Ìý Now the Rail Accident Investigation branch has released its report into his death.Ìý To try to understand exactly what happened and what more can be done to prevent such accidents, we’re going to be hearing tonight from Cleveland’s partner, from a campaigner for rail safety and from Network Rail, which operates and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure.

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But first, we’re going to go to Simon French, who is the Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents.

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Simon, as far as we can be sure what happened to Cleveland Gervais that day – the 26th February last year?

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French

Our investigation identified that Mr Gervais had moved close to the platform edge, almost certainly because he was unaware that he was so close, and he fell from the platform and was struck by a train.Ìý We concluded that the platform at Eden Park was not installed with a tactile strip and these are, in fact, an effective mitigation of the risk to visually impaired passengers.Ìý We’ve made a number of recommendations to address this issue.Ìý First of all, we’ve made recommendations to the Department for Transport and Network Rail to work through a policy for the installation of tactile strips at stations.Ìý At the moment, the practice is somewhat patchwork with different approaches.

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White

Can I quote what you said?Ìý You said, you need to improve the processes that govern when tactile surfaces at the edge of station platforms should be installed and secondly, to develop a plan for installing tactile surfaces at higher priority locations in a timely manner.Ìý Doesn’t actually tactile paving need to be installed on all of our rail platforms as soon as possible?

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French

I mean I think it is for others to determine whether in fact they should be installed at all stations and by when that should be done.Ìý We do understand, of course, that the immediate installation of tactile surfaces on every station would be very expensive.Ìý For us it makes perfect sense for you to start in the places where the risk is highest.Ìý There are already in place processes for the rail industry to assess the risk of platforms and we believe that this risk assessment process should take into account particular risks to visually impaired passengers.Ìý The number of passengers is one factor but not the only factor.Ìý The presence of staff on the platform can make a real difference.

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White

Now you also focus in your recommendations on what else needs to be done to make railway stations and rail travel safer before platforms finally get tactile paving installed, if they haven’t got them already.Ìý What, in particular, are you suggesting there?

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French

There are already requirements for lines along the edge of the platforms, yellow lines to mark the edge of the platforms, we need to ensure those are in good condition and are visible.Ìý But we also need to think about staffing arrangements on platforms at maybe at particular times of day, lighting conditions and anything else that can be done to ensure the risk is mitigated in the meantime.

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White

Isn’t part of the problem that there are many organisations involved in the running of the railways.Ìý We’ve mentioned some of them.Ìý There is the Department of Transport, of course; Network Rail, we’re going to be hearing from in a moment; the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators; and there are more.Ìý Do you think that’s led to perhaps delay and confusion in getting safety measures installed at railway stations?

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French

It is a complicated industry, you’re quite right, but I think, in general, the industry has found ways to cooperate.Ìý Now I think in this particular area, there’s much more that could be done.Ìý There was perhaps in some cases a lack of clarity as to quite who was responsible for making the decision about the installation of tactile surfaces along platform edges.

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White

Okay, Simon French, thank you very much indeed.

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Of course, tragedies like this have many victims.Ìý Now Cleveland’s partner of almost 20 years – Sekha Hall – has been listening to all that.Ìý Sekha, our condolences to you as well.Ìý But first, just tell us something about Cleveland, what was he like?

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Hall

Cleveland was a man who loved life.Ìý He loved his family in Trinidad and Canada very much.Ìý He loved my family – he loved my children.Ìý He was always helping other people.Ìý He had lots and lots of friends.Ìý He worked out every day and kept fit.Ìý He’d worked in health education and promotion in the Caribbean and he counselled people who were newly diagnosed with HIV.Ìý He loved going out clubbing, he loved hitting the dancefloor, he could dance for England.Ìý And he never let his disability stop him from doing what he wanted to do.

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White

To what extent did he use trains?

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Hall

He used trains a lot.Ìý He felt safe on trains.

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White

And what mobility aid did he use?

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Hall

He didn’t get on well with the long canes with the ball on the end, so he had a regular walking stick that I painted white for him.

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White

In a way I hate to ask you this but I must – I mean what are your memories of the day that Cleveland died?

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Hall

It was just a normal Wednesday Peter.Ìý He would go to a social at lunchtime with his friends and I walked him to the station that morning.Ìý The last time I saw him was that morning, he was walking away from me, he was swinging his cane from side to side.Ìý And the next time I saw him was three weeks later in a mortuary.

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White

Would he normally have used the train on his own?

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Hall

We travelled together a lot of the time but there were times during the week when he travelled independently.Ìý And that was part of his nature as well.

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White

Now you’ve seen the report in full, you’ve heard what Simon has had to say, can you understand what happened there and what are your reactions to the report?

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Hall

I think the report is very well written and it’s very comprehensive.Ìý And if it was up to me, tactile pavements would be installed straightaway everywhere because what worries me is the assumptions people make that I’m at a station it’ll have a tactile platform.Ìý I’ve spoken to many people in the last year and people are quite shocked that tactile pavements aren’t installed on all platforms.Ìý But I understand that these things don’t happen overnight, unfortunately, and I understand that a lot of the time it boils down to money.Ìý One of my reasons for coming on the programme, is to make your listeners aware and to make their significant others aware that tactile pavements aren’t installed at every platform.

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White

And just finally, in trying to understand what happened, have you worked out what may have gone wrong?

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Hall

I think about it every single day and he’s with me all the time in my thoughts and what happened to him is so horrifying that I can’t escape it.Ìý He was very aware – he would hear a train coming before I did.Ìý And as to the answer to your question, who can say, we can’t ask him, so I don’t know.

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White

And that’s the tragedy, so still a puzzle.Ìý Sekha Hall, thank you very much for coming on and talking to us.

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Hall

Thank you.

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White

I want to bring in Clive Wood.Ìý Now Clive is an expert in rail safety for visually impaired people, he’s blind himself, he’s the Lead Regional Policy and Campaigns Manager at Guide Dogs and a former member of the National Rail Accessibility Forum.Ìý Clive, you’ve looked in detail at this report as well, and you’re calling now for a five-year plan, I think, to get tactile paving fitted on all UK platforms.Ìý Just tell us what you’re asking for.

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Wood

Well, Peter, can I just start by offering my condolences to Sekha and his family and friends of Cleveland as well.Ìý What we’re asking for is what should have been done a long, long time ago for tactile to put on every train station platform in the UK.Ìý And we understand that it won’t happen overnight and I think five years is a reasonable time.Ìý Unfortunately, we have a situation where the Department for Transport and several areas of the rail industry are passing the buck, not taking responsibility.Ìý Well, I’m afraid now, the buck stops with the Department for Transport, they need to take a lead on this and introduce a programme where tactile is introduced over the next five years.

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White

Well, the Department of Transport has told us that they’re working with Network Rail on a plan for the rollout of tactile surfaces on platforms and will be making it absolutely clear to the industry that we – that’s the Department of Transport – expect them to prioritise installation whenever work is carried out.Ìý What do you say to that?

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Wood

I’m afraid again, they’re passing the buck.Ìý I mean the situation at the moment is that the industry and the Department for Transport will not install tactile until major works is carried out on a platform at a train station.Ìý What does major works mean?Ìý This is a question that we’ve been asking for a long time and we can’t get a definitive answer.Ìý We’ve gone past that now, Peter, we do need a programme put in place that’s going to see tactile put on platforms.Ìý Peter, do you know the guidance has been in place in different types of guidance in the rail industry for over 30 years to have tactile on platforms at train stations and we’re not seeing this progress quickly enough – 30 years is too long.

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White

Now the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train operating companies, it’s been told to develop means of reducing the risk to visually impaired people using station platforms where tactile surfaces haven’t yet been installed.Ìý And they’ve told us they’re going to work out the best way to make train travel safer for blind and visually impaired passengers.Ìý What would you do if you were them?Ìý I know you’re saying you want tactile paving to be installed but you’ve also said it can’t be done overnight, so what should they do where it isn’t present?

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Wood

They’ve got to remember that some stations do have some platforms that do have tactile and some that don’t, so information is key.Ìý So, making it available on their websites, making it available when somebody wants to phone to find out from the train operator, having announcements on the platforms as well.

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White

There are a lot of announcements made on platforms, some argue too many, but you’re saying you’d like that to be a regular announcement possibly?

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Wood

Information is key around this and we’ve got to make information accessible for blind and partially sighted people and that means having announcements at stations, making staff aware as well that if they see somebody with sight loss approach them, let them know about the platforms and if they have tactile or not.

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White

Clive Wood, thanks for the moment, do stay with us.Ìý Listening to all of that has been Allan Spence, who is Network Rail’s Head of Public and Passenger Safety.

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Allan, tactile paving has now been fitted by you at Eden Park, hasn’t it?

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Spence

Yes it has Peter.Ìý We already had a programme in place to accelerate fitting tactile paving at all of the stations in the Kent and Sussex routes and tragically the tactiles at Eden Park, unfortunately, were not fitted in time to protect Cleveland on this day.Ìý They have now been fitted and they will be fitted at all those stations within the next 16 months or so.

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White

It’s been dependent on other work taking place, are you saying that this now has priority, although though sadly it’s too late for Cleveland?

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Spence

We have an estate of stations around the country, mainly built by the Victorians, when tactiles were not such a thing.Ìý We’ve been fitting them steadily at a whole series of stations around the country.Ìý My colleagues in one of the busiest bits of the railway, in Kent and Sussex, have already set up a plan to install them regardless of whether work is underway.Ìý And indeed, we’ve agreed a way to prioritise fitting them at stations around the country beyond those two routes.

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White

We’ll come to that.Ìý I mean we’ve recently reported on this programme a Freedom of Information request made by Caroline Pidgeon, who’s a Lib Dem member of the London Assembly.Ìý Now she found that one third of the total length of platforms in the UK are still without tactile surfaces.Ìý That’s just not good enough is it?

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Spence

The intention is absolutely to fit tactiles at the platform edge on all operational platforms as soon as we are able subject, of course, to the funding…

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White

What’s stopping you?

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Spence

…made available.Ìý This has to be a combined approach by those who fund the industry, those who are responsible for managing safety in the stations and ourselves, as landlord at the majority of those stations.

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White

The train operating companies work with Network Rail to select which stations and platforms should be prioritised for installation of tactile paving.Ìý That process surely needs to be seriously sped up doesn’t it?

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Spence

And that’s exactly what we’ve done.Ìý In the busiest parts of the network, which cover all of our Kent route and our Sussex route, we have worked with those responsible for managing safety at the stations – stations like Eden Park – and we’ve brought forward a fitment to make sure that we get those tactile surfaces at the edges of all operational platforms in those routes.

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White

What about Guide Dogs call for tactile paving to be fitted to all rail platforms, not just the South East but all rail platforms, within five years – can you do that?

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Spence

I don’t know whether it will be possible to achieve that in five years.Ìý I absolutely support the principle that Simon explained a few minutes ago, that we should do this on a risk basis, do it where it will bring the greatest safety benefit.Ìý We are already accelerating fitment of tactile surfaces where stations are partially fitted – just as Simon identified in his report into Cleveland’s tragic death at Eden Park – and we will make sure that we look at what options there are to accelerate fitment elsewhere as well.

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White

Now Sir Peter Hendy, who’s Chair of Network Rail, has recently said he wants all operational platforms to be fully tactile by March 2029, now that isn’t in five years but can even that be achieved in that timeframe, are the finances in place?

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Spence

The finances are not yet in place, no.Ìý The industry’s financed on a five-year cycle, the cycle we’re in at the minute finishes in 2024 and what Sir Peter was talking about in that letter is our intention, subject to the funders wanting that to happen, is that we would want to do that in the next control period, the next five-year cycle which would end in 2029.

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White

But was are about to see another reorganisation of rail, that’s become clear, isn’t this idea of a five year cycle a real problem when you have a situation like this where everybody on this programme is saying, including you, is saying we need this now?

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Spence

I would argue that the five-year funding cycle actually provides real security for the industry to set its priorities, agree them with government, those who will fund it and make sure that we deliver them.Ìý So, it has real advantage.Ìý It’s not appropriate to say that we’re waiting for the next cycle, we’re actively installing tactile surfaces at platform edges wherever we’re able to do so and the examples in those busiest bits of the network, down in Kent and Sussex, clearly demonstrate that we’re doing that now, not waiting.

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White

Can I just, finally, as you about staffing because this wasn’t a staffed station at that time of night, would you regard staffing as an issue, given that one of the things blind people are entitled to do is ask for help on stations?

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Spence

All of Network Rail stations are staffed whenever they’re open but I do know that a great many of those managed by train operating companies aren’t staffed at either some or all of the day.Ìý There is in Simon’s report a clear description that those who are blind or partially sighted, in general, would prefer to be able to travel in the same way as those of us who enjoy good eyesight and hence, we shouldn’t be using staffing as the first choice.Ìý The first choice is we should make the stations such that everybody is able to use them – the access for all principles.Ìý However, if anybody does need assistance to use our stations or those of the train operating companies, then there are arrangements that they can seek that assistance.Ìý And I know Simon’s report explains that in this instance Cleveland was not aware of those arrangements, we believe, but nonetheless they are there and it will be really important to continue to publicise those arrangements.

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White

Allan Spence, thank you very much indeed.

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I just finally, quickly, want to go back to rail safety campaigner Clive Wood.Ìý Final thoughts Clive?

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Wood

Accessibility means that you can travel independently and with confidence and I think that’s the important thing.Ìý We’ve waited 30 years, Peter – emergency measures need to be put into place now and we can see what measures are going to be done and how long it’s going to take.

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White

Clive Wood, thank you very much indeed.Ìý And thanks to all of you for taking part.Ìý And I should just add, that the RNIB has set up a petition calling for action to make railway stations safer for blind and partially sighted people.Ìý There is a link to that on this programme’s page on our website.Ìý

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Do let us know your thoughts, your experiences.Ìý Our email is intouch@bbc.co.uk.Ìý That’s it, from me, Peter White, all our guests, producer Mike Young and studio managers John Cole and Sue Stonestreet.Ìý Goodbye.

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