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Man run over by the train sent to find him [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-07-31

London Underground stewards turned off power to the tracks after a man was seen walking along the Northern Line on May 19 last year and behaving oddly. After a fruitless police search in the dark and no sign of the man, they eventually turned the power back on and dispatched a train to look for him. Robert English, 32, was electrocuted, then run over by the train.

In the report, the coroner noted that the train "was not adequately equipped to conduct such a search in darkness and this response was inadequate". The report continued: "The requirements within the rule book when switching the power supply to the rails were not followed in particular telling all the relevant people that the power supply to the rails is about to be switched on. "This would have given the police and British Transport Police an opportunity to confirm that Mr English had not been found and was likely still on the railway side of the tracks. It is likely that had this step been followed the power supply would not have been switched on and a proper search, which was also possible, is likely to have found Mr English and returned him safely to the station."

English' death was found to be a failure of proper procedure, but the lack of lighting on and around the tracks was cited as a factor. The incident occured on above-ground section of the Northern Line out in London's leafy suburbs; the photo above shows how dense the foliage is nearby. Below, a still from a video uploaded to Google Maps' page for the station shows a virtual tunnel of trees.

Perhaps a search drone at every station would be a good investment. The corner's report was posted online on July 29, 2025.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/07/31/man-run-over-by-the-train-sent-to-find-him.html

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