Operators fined £14m over Croydon tram disaster failings

Tram operators were fined a total of £14m after seven people were killed when a tram crashed in Croydon, south London.
Transport for London was fined £10m and Tram Operations Limited was fined £4m for failing in their health and safety duties.
The tram, which was carrying 69 people, toppled over on a sharp bend on the morning of 9 November 2016, killing seven people and injuring 61. Of those, 21 were seriously hurt and many sustained life-changing injuries.
Driver Alfred Dorris, 49, was cleared of health and safety offences by a jury, while the two firms had earlier admitted their breaches.
The judge, Mr Justice Fraser also ordered TfL and TOL each pay £234,404 in costs to the prosecuting authority, the Office of Rail and Road, and a victim surcharge of £170.
Passing sentence at the Old Bailey, he said: "This was undoubtedly an accident waiting to happen, quite literally."
There was a failure to heed warnings about the risk of drivers becoming disorientated in the Sandilands tunnel network on the approach to the curve, and a report of a "near miss" just days before the crash was "ignored", he added.
The "complacency" around the inadequate lighting and lack of visual cues in the tunnel was "disturbing", the judge said.
The judge's sentencing remarks can be read in full at: www.judiciary.uk/judgments/r-...
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