Great Western Coffee Shop

01 Dec 2018 23:21

Statement - fatality at Bristol Temple Meads
We were called at around 10.10pm following a report a woman had received serious head injuries while travelling on a train between Bath and Keynsham.
 
Officers from British Transport Police attended along with colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police and South Western Ambulance Service but despite their best efforts, the woman died at the scene.
 
Our investigation remains at an early stage, but initial enquiries suggest the woman may have been leaning out of a window when she suffered a blow to the head.
 
Officers are currently working to confirm her identity and inform her next of kin.
 
We are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident, which has been reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).

The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.

From the British Transport Police

http://media.btp.police.uk/r/16098/statement_-_fatality_at_bristol_temple_meads

So sad, especially so close to Christmas.  Must have been so hard for all the staff involved and those passengers onboard who witnessed it and tried to give the young lady medical assistance.

The age and address of a woman who died from a catastrophic blow to the head after she reportedly put her head out of a train window has been released by police.

British Transport Police has announced the victim, who was travelling on a train between Bath and Keynsham on Saturday night, was a 28-year-old woman from Penarth, which is a few miles south of Cardiff.

A spokesman for the BTP said she suffered serious head injuries.

Initial enquiries suggest the woman may have been leaning out of a window before being fatally injured.

Incredibly sad, and by no means the first time it has happened.  The quicker trains with fully opening windows are either modified or removed from the network the better.

A woman who died after leaning out of the window of a moving train was hit by a tree or branch, an inquest has heard.

Bethan Roper, 28, was on her way home from a Christmas shopping trip with friends in Bath when she died on 1 December.

The charity worker, from Penarth in south Wales, suffered serious head injuries while travelling between Bath and Keynsham.

She was pronounced dead at Bristol Temple Meads station.

An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned at Avon Coroners' Court in Flax Bourton.

Miss Roper worked Welsh Refugee Council, having graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2013.

The charity, a sister organisation to the UK-wide Refugee Council, works to help asylum seekers and refugees in Wales.

She was also a campaigner and was chairman of Young Socialists Cardiff.

Last week her father Adrian said: "She was beautiful in every way. Our pain couldn't be sharper or more justified, but I know that her goodness and fullness of spirit will live on in our hearts and actions."

The inquest will resume on 20 March and investigations into the circumstances of her death continue.

The incident was reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).

British Transport Police and the Office of Rail and Road are also investigating.

At around 22:04 hrs on 1 December 2018, ...

Quoted from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fatal-accident-twerton (I'm posting that to make it clear who "our" and "we" are in the text)

I don't think we should be speculating on what will come out of the investigation.

I don't think we should be speculating on what will come out of the investigation.

I have noticed recently that new warning stickers have been applied on and around HST windows.

I have noticed recently that new warning stickers have been applied on and around HST windows.

I don't think we should be speculating on what will come out of the investigation.

A woman was killed as she leaned out of a train window below an inadequate warning sign, a report said.

Bethan Roper, 28, was hit in the head by a tree branch while on board a Great Western Railway (GWR) service travelling at about 75mph (120km/h) near Twerton, Bath.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) also noted trees along the route had not been inspected since 2009.
Signs around the window were updated after Ms Roper's death.

The investigation said Ms Roper was returning to Penarth, South Wales, from Bath Spa station on 1 December 2018.
She was with friends, and the RAIB said it believed "at least one other friend leant out of the window before [Ms Roper]".

Witnesses told investigators Ms Roper had her head out of the window for a few seconds "before falling back into the vestibule".

Despite the efforts of other passengers, including some with medical training, she was pronounced dead at Bristol station, the report said.

Is there any chance this thread could be renamed, as the incident happened nowhere near Temple Meads? Every time I see the thread name I think "Oh no, has someone died at Temple Meads now?" and then find it is referring to last year's sad incident at Twerton.

Train passenger leaning out of window died after branch hit her

(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/2538/production/_118682590_bethanroper.jpg)
Bethan Roper was pronounced dead by paramedics at Bristol Temple Meads station

A woman died after she leaned out of the window of a moving train and was hit by a tree branch, an inquest heard.

Bethan Roper, 28, from Penarth, Glamorgan, suffered fatal head injuries on the Great Western Railway service at Twerton, between Bath and Bristol.

Fellow passengers gave her CPR but she was pronounced dead at Bristol Temple Meads station in December 2018.

An accident inspector said a lack of inspections on the line was "possibly causal" to the accident.

The train was travelling at around 75mph when the accident happened on 1 December, Avon Coroner's Court was told.

Miss Roper had been returning home with friends from a day out Christmas shopping in Bath.

Mark Hamilton, an inspector with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, told the inquest that one of Miss Roper's group of friends opened the window, and at least one of the group leant out.

He said: "But around two and a half minutes after the train departed Bath Spa station, Bethan leant out of the window and a few seconds later she fell backwards having sustained a serious head injury.  The simple conclusion we have drawn from the evidence presented was that Bethan's head came into contact with a lineside tree and that tree was growing on Network Rail infrastructure."

Mr Hamilton said mandatory tree inspections should be carried out every five years, however Network Rail had not inspected that part of the line since 2009.

Mr Hamilton said it may have been deemed the branch was "insufficient to pose a risk of derailment" and mandatory inspections do not set out the risks to passengers on the train.  However, had an inspection been carried out in accordance with the industry's standard then "the diseased tree might have been identified", he said.

The inspector said yellow signs were used inside the train to warn passengers not to lean out of the window when it was moving, but the word "caution" suggested someone could put their head out of the window "with a degree of care".

Although the signs complied with industry standards, the RAIB considered red as "a better colour to convey danger", he added.

Toxicology tests showed Miss Roper's blood alcohol level was about twice the legal limit for driving.

Pathologist Dr Karin Denton said judgement and coordination "would be impaired" at that level.

Mr Hamilton said it was not possible to know how much effect the alcohol had on Miss Roper.

A statement read to the jury on behalf of Miss Roper's father, Adrian Roper, described his daughter as "an inspirational and much-loved woman", who worked for the Wales Refugee Council, volunteered at a foodbank and supported many charities.

The inquest is expected to last just over a week.

Following five days of evidence, an inquest jury returned a majority conclusion of a narrative conclusion.

They said: “Bethan died as a result of an incident onboard a train travelling from Bath to Bristol Temple Meads on December 1 2018.

“Bethan boarded the train under the influence of alcohol. Despite a warning sign she leant out of a droplight window while the train was moving.

“She was struck by a stem of a tree sustaining a fatal head injury.”

GWR has withdrawn their final drop-window carriages. It was a process that was underway in any case.

Not really the time or place to be pedantic but they still exist on the sleeper stock don’t they?

I suspect they do - I'll go back and add "HST" in my previous post to keep it clean for the future.  I also note, I believe, that there are drop windows on heritage / charter trains, including the Midland Pullman - most of which will be much more heavily staffed.