Escalator fall commuter receives apology

A commuter who fell after a railway station escalator developed a fault has received an apology.

Transport for London (TfL) apologised to two customers and is carrying out an investigation into the incident at the Cutty Sark DLR station on 18 February.

Commuter Debra Sainsbury said: "Everyone was screaming for it to stop. My foot was stuck in the escalator and my toes are now bent out of shape."

The escalator has been taken out of service, TfL said.

'Reversing escalator'

Ms Sainsbury, who lives in Greenwich, said she was ascending on the escalator at around 18:00 GMT when it suddenly started to move in reverse.

"We were trying to run against it but it was going at such a speed and you couldn't get off it," she said.

"It was horrendous. I couldn't go anywhere and another passenger had to lift me up off the escalator."

She added that one of her shoes was ripped in the incident.

Rory O'Neill, director of DLR at TfL, said: "We have apologised to two of our customers at Cutty Sark DLR station yesterday after an escalator apparently developed a mechanical fault and caused one customer to fall.

"The escalator is currently out of service while we carry out a full investigation."

TfL added that the customers were offered medical assistance after the incident, but they declined.