"An accident waiting to happen" - The Croydon Tram Derailment

Sinister South

It’s Hannah’s birthday 🎉 and in true Sinister South fashion, we’re celebrating with one of the most devastating public transport disasters in British history.

This week, we’re in Croydon. In 2016, a packed tram derailed at high speed on a tight curve at Sandilands. Seven people lost their lives. Dozens more were injured. But behind the headlines was a tangled mess of missed warnings, ignored safety recommendations, and a network that left no room for human error.

It’s a story about a driver, a system with no safeguards, and a question that still hasn’t been answered: how did no one see it coming?

We talk through the crash itself, the trial that followed, and why Rachel will never again tempt fate by saying anything positive out loud. There’s also a detour into the very specific kind of rage that comes from being tailgated by an undercover BMW-driving policeman on the A20.

Sources for this episode include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Croydon_tram_derailment
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/19/driver-of-croydon-tram-in-fatal-2016-crash-cleared-by-old-bailey-jury
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/07/croydon-tram-crash-caused-by-driver-falling-asleep-and-speeding
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66323171
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-65906151
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-182017-overturning-of-a-tram-at-sandilands-junction-croydon

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Produced and hosted by Hannah Williams & Rachel Baines
Mixed & edited by Purple Waves Sound (A.K.A Will)