Network Rail has paid £1m for slips, trips and falls in past five years

In the past financial five years, Network Rail has paid a total of £1m for slips, trips and falls across UK stations, according to research conducted by the BBC.

Network Rail is in charge of 11 stations in London, and 20 across the rest of the UK.

The highest fine given was £36,392, after a passenger “slipped on liquid and landed heavily on their right hip” at Charing Cross station. The lowest fine was £10, after a passenger slipped on ice at an entrance to Victoria Station, and suffered personal injuries and damages to their suit.

The most recent case was a fine of £27,602, after a passenger slipped on pigeon faeces at Paddington station. Overall, there has been four fines given to Network Rail in the past five years, as a result of passengers slipping on bird faeces.

Phillip Thrower, Head of Claims and Insurance at Network Rails emphasised that. “with tens of millions of people using our stations every day, only a tiny fraction of a percent experience a mishap”.

Over half of the £1m total fines were made due to accidents at the following stations:

• Euston– a passenger received £35,721 for slipping.
• Paddington– a passenger received £36.392 for slipping.
• Liverpool Street– a passenger received £28,000 after suffering a “possible lacerated finger”.

Victoria station had the highest number of successful claims paid out by Network Rails. Guilford and Glasgow Central were the only stations managed by Network Rails, that did not have compensation claims.

“If we are at fault for causing damage or injury to anyone, we rightly compensate them for those accidents and put in place new ways of working to stop them from happening again”, expressed Phillip.

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Network Rail has paid £1m for slips, trips and falls in past five years