![]() The inquest’s narrative verdict also found that the tram’s operator TOL had failed to account for the risk of a high-speed derailment, or create a “just culture” at the firm that would allow drivers to report health and safety concerns. The Old Bailey jurors were not told of the findings of the 2021 inquest, which ruled that the deaths were accidental. The court was told of the previous “near-miss” on the service, where Dorris’s defence barrister, Miles Bennett, said a passenger had “genuinely feared for their safety”.Īccident investigators in 2017 found that another tram had come close to overturning nine days earlier, while drivers warned that they needed to brake heavily when approaching the bend. Prosecutor Jonathan Ashley-Norman KC told jurors: “Whether by virtue of a micro-sleep, or by virtue of becoming disorientated in some other way, or a combination of the two, Mr Dorris failed to attend to the most basic of requirements of a driver of a passenger vehicle, namely remaining alert and attentive at the controls.”ĭorris was described as having an “impeccable” past record and was seen as one of the better drivers. “I can remember being thrown from the chair to the side of the cabin and my shoulder took the impact and I hit the side of my head on the side of the cabin.” ![]() ![]() I wanted to reach for the brake but at that stage the tram was already going over and I was thrown out of the chair and I could not do anything. In court, Dorris broke down as he recalled the moments before the crash. Dorris was found in his cabin with his eyes shut and one passenger called for him to “wake up”. Survivors described being “flung” about as if in a washing machine as the tram rolled over. “And I’m deeply sorry I was not able to do anything to reorientate myself and stop the tram from turning over. I’m sorry I was not able to do anything to stop myself from becoming disorientated. He said: “I’m a human being and sometimes as a human being things happen to you that you are not in control of. However, a similar incident had occurred just over a week earlier on the service with another driver, jurors were told.ĭorris denied he had a “micro-sleep” and said he became disoriented in the tunnel on approach to the curve – blaming a combination of external factors including poor lighting and signage around the tunnel, darkness and bad weather.ĭorris, who had been excused from attending a 2021 inquest because of post-traumatic stress, apologised to the victims’ families and survivors as he spoke publicly for the first time about the crash while giving tearful evidence at the Old Bailey. Alfred Dorris at Croydon magistrates court at an earlier hearing in June 2022.
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