Clapham Common station: How Tube panic set in over fire alert

A week ago there was a serious incident on the London Underground at Clapham Common station.

Passengers travelling on northbound Tube train 51554 in the early evening of 5 May described a strong burning smell in a carriage and, after there was no communication, mass panic set in.

Those who experienced what happened now want the procedures around how incidents like this are dealt with reviewed by Transport for London (TfL), which itself has said it "would never operate an unsafe railway".

Dan Beglin was one of those "packed in like sardines" on the train.

He said: "We started smelling burning and then we leave the platform and about two seconds later the train comes to a halt and I've got a woman falling into me and then we just stand there.

"There was no communication from the driver, no communication from the station staff. I don't think they knew what was going on either."

British Transport Police said no one was injured in the incident

In a letter to local politicians, TfL said: "The acrid smell may have worried customers on the platform, who activated the station fire alarms. The customer fire alarms set off an automatic message to evacuate the station.

"It was following this announcement that customers became distressed and attempted to force the doors and smashed windows on the train."

The official report into what happened - which the BBC has seen - shows it was treated as a category one incident.

Fire alarms were activated at 17:44 BST. The timeline shows the situation then escalated quickly and minutes after the train came to a stop passengers started to try and get out of the windows.

The report says workmen used tools to break windows as passengers, who thought the train was on fire, panicked.

A report into the incident found workmen used tools to break the train's windows

One of the issues for those inside the carriage was the doors were not opened as the train was halfway into a tunnel. Opening the doors would have meant people falling on to live tracks.

Mr Beglin said the lack of communication did not help. "It was abysmal communication," he said.

"We had people in my carriage trying to pry our doors open, someone said they were scared and someone said they were panicking and someone got between the gaps of the carriages.

"Then people started breaking windows on the Tube as they were that desperate to get out."

The incident started at 17:44, according to TfL's report

It's not clear what caused the smell. The report says the area is well known for brake abrasion dust, or it possibly could have been a malfunctioning fan.

In the report, staff say the smell was strong. With mass panic breaking out, it would have been very difficult for them to find out exactly what was happening.

TfL believes the acrid smell was caused by debris, which had collected on a component of the train that became hot.

Transport unions have raised concerns about staffing levels at this and other stations. It is thought three members of staff were at the station that evening - one in the control room, one on the gate-line and one on the platform.

The member of staff on the platform had to deal with two trains at the same time as a southbound train had also arrived.

That meant there was just one staff member dealing with the panic happening on the platform. Other more senior staff were called in later.

After the incident, the Aslef union said: "Trade Unions have long warned that cuts to staff on TfL risk passenger safety. This evening's wholly avoidable panic at Clapham Common show just how important properly staffed stations are."

'Appallingly handled'

The report says the incident started at 17:44, London Fire Bridge arrived at 17:59 and checked the carriage with thermal imaging at 18:07. There was no fire.

Mr Beglin believes the situation could have been much worse.

"It was pretty appallingly handled. It could have been a trample," he said.

"If it was an actual fire, I dread to think what would have happened. People could have possibly died. It was poorly handled and for the British Transport Police to say there were no injuries - psychologically. It was quite scary."

TfL believes the acrid smell was caused by debris

There is no doubt this was an extremely difficult, unusual situation where mass panic overwhelmed protocols. TfL has apologised and has launched an investigation.

A TfL spokesperson said: "Safety is our number one priority and we would never operate an unsafe railway.

"Our station staff were on the platform within 90 seconds and immediately began the process of releasing the doors.

"Customers from both trains in the platforms and the rest of the station were then evacuated by the station team very quickly in line with our safety procedures."

But those who were on the train say the incident does raise many questions about procedures, staffing levels and, ultimately, passenger safety.

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