Media centre

Tuesday 11 Dec 2012

Trolley trips and post-party tumbles can ruin a journey home - rail industry urges people to take care when travelling this Christmas

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail is reminding passengers to take care when travelling after figures published today showed that 260 people were involved in slips, trips or falls in Scotland’s railway stations in 2011/12.

As the busy festive period approaches, the company has launched a new digital and poster campaign highlighting how activities like running for a train with high heels, with bags of shopping or attempting to carry heavy luggage on an escalator can end in injury.

Commenting on the GB-wide campaign, Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director for network operations, said: “A combination of more people carrying Christmas shopping, trailing wheelie suitcases, wet and windy weather and people travelling late after festive parties can make December a time where we see more people take a tumble.

“We don’t want to see anyone hurt at our stations so we’ll be doing what we can to keep concourses dry and clean and signposting lifts clearly for those with heavy luggage. Please plan ahead so you don’t end up rushing to catch your train - falling over could be a miserable end to an enjoyable evening.”

There have been more than 3,100 incidents GB-wide between April 2011 and March 2012. Most incidents involved people slipping on the concourse (1,488), falling down stairs (1,120) or on the platform (899) with more than 500 falls on escalators and over 400 people who fell when running.

December 2011 saw 322 incidents, accounting for around 10% of the total. Fridays were the most common day for a slip, trip or fall to occur with more than a third (1,158) occurring between 5pm and 2.30am.

In Scotland, there were 49 incidents on concourses, 92 on station stairs and 76 on platforms. Friday was also the most common day for incidents in Scottish stations with 54, while December accounted for 40 of the 260 incidents recorded.