Metro error sparked 'series of unlikely events'

The Metro train door opened on the wrong side at Simonside station

Driver error and "a series of unlikely events" caused the doors of a new Tyne and Wear Metro train to open on to the side of the track, the network's operator says.

Five new trains were taken out of service following the incident at Simonside station, in South Tyneside, on 21 April.

Paul Welford, major projects director at Nexus, told the BBC they had been withdrawn as a precautionary measure.

Their reintroduction to the network began on Wednesday.

Passenger Ethan Forster reported the door failure, which happened at 16:00 GMT.

He saw another commuter had pressed the button to exit the train but it did not immediately open the correct door.

Mr Welford said the 555 models had been removed "swiftly...so that we could investigate in full".

He added: "It was a series of pretty unlikely events, but it did stem from the incorrect operation of the doors.

"That said, it's identified an issue with the functionality of the door system that we're not 100% happy with so we want to do some software modifications to remove any possibility of it happening again."

'Teething troubles'

The setback is the latest to affect the roll-out of the new fleet.

Forty-six trains were initially scheduled for operation by the end of 2023, but the first did not make it into service until December last year.

Mr Welford said "teething troubles" were to be expected as it was "pretty early in the introduction of the fleet having successfully got five out of 46 trains into service".

"This is a complex and massive project for Nexus. It's fair to say we'll introduce a really robust and reliable Metro system.

"It's disappointing to have paused our roll-out for a week, but we got them back into service and will carry on with the roll-out through the next two years.

"We're not expecting any disruption to the programme."

On Monday this week, Nexus said it was working with manufacturer Stadler to implement a "solution" for the door issue.