Mother run over by two Tube trains ‘caused' own injuries, claims TfL

Telegraph

21 hours ago

A mother of two who was run over by two Tube trains 'caused' her own injuries, Transport for London (TfL) has claimed.
Sarah de Lagarde, 46, had her right arm and leg partially amputated after she fell onto the tracks at High Barnet station, in north London, in September 2022.
She has brought a High Court case against TfL in which she will seek damages of more than £25 million. In court documents, TfL has claimed 'the incident was caused or contributed to by the claimant's negligence'.
Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has previously told TfL to avoid 'victim-blaming' when passengers are injured or killed on public transport in the capital.
Ms de Lagarde, who now has two prosthetic limbs, was travelling home on the Northern Line on Sept 30 2022 when she fell asleep. She awoke at High Barnet, at the end of the line, at 9.53pm and alighted from the train onto a wet platform.
'The claimant took a few steps forward onto the platform and then took a few steps backwards, before the rear of her body struck the rear side of the door of the train she had exited from,' according to TfL's court documents.
'The claimant continued to move backwards and, approximately seven seconds after exiting the train, she fell into the gap between carriages five and six of the train.'
Ms de Lagarde, the global head of corporate affairs at Janus Henderson, an investment firm, was not noticed by other passengers or station staff and her shouts for help went unheeded.
Shortly before 10pm, the driver of the train noticed a brown leather bag wedged between the train and the platform. He picked it up and later handed it in to the lost property office at Morden, south London, but did not investigate further.
TfL's submissions say he 'did not see or hear the claimant at that point and did not look into the gap, having no reason to do so'.
Ms de Lagarde's right arm was run over when the train set off at 10pm. Five minutes later, her right leg was crushed when a second Northern Line train arrived at the station.
Despite the train's headlights being on, she was not found until a driver of a train on a different platform heard her shouts and called the emergency services.
Air Ambulance paramedics crawled under the train to reach her and later received a national bravery award. She was taken to the Royal London Hospital for surgery and later transferred to the Amputee Rehabilitation Unit in Lambeth. She was not discharged from hospital until Dec 1 2022.
Ms de Lagarde's claim states: 'The breaches of duty caused the claimant to suffer life-changing injuries.'
Representing Ms de Lagarde, Thomas Jervis, a Leigh Day partner, said: 'Like millions of other Londoners, Sarah de Lagarde was just trying to get home from work when she was hit by two tube trains at High Barnet station.
'Transport for London is refusing to accept liability and positively blames Sarah for what happened.'
A spokesman for TfL said: 'We are responding to a legal claim brought by Sarah de Lagarde. It is not appropriate to discuss details of our defence while this case is ongoing.
'Our thoughts continue to be with Sarah and her family following this terrible incident, and we will continue to make every possible effort to learn from any incident on the Tube network. Safety is our top priority, and we will always place it at the forefront of our thinking.'
The trial is due to open in January 2027.