MINDING THE GAP

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2016 :: RMTnews 8 Londoners have been indoctrinated into safety by recordings and notices imploring them to “mind the gap” between train and platform. However, the system is failing as hundreds of people are now falling in the gap between train and platform every year. A Freedom of Information request by London Loves Business has revealed that in 2003, a grand total of 56 incidents were recorded. But this number has increased every year to 2014 (the last full set of figures available), when an astonishing 298 such incidents were recorded. This is an increase in the number of accidents of 432 per cent overall. Transport for London (TfL) records these mishaps as “PTI falls”. PTI stands for “platform train interface”, and is what TfL calls the troublesome gap/doors area. But today there are now far more passengers. Of course, having a growing number of people using the Tube would naturally make the frequency of accidents rise, and indeed, the number of passengers on the underground has shot up in recent years. According to TfL’s figures, since 2003 there has been a 34 per cent increase in passengers on the Tube. But the rise in frequency of accidents has not been proportionate. Back in 2002/3 a total of 942 million passenger journeys were made according to TfL, and a total of 56 PTI falls were recorded for 2003. Those 56 falls made up 0.00005 per cent of all journeys, or one in 17 million journeys. By 2013/14 though, 1.26 billion passenger journeys were undertaken on the Tube, and a total of 298 PTI falls were recorded for 2014. These 298 falls made up 0.00236 per cent of all journeys that year, or one in 4.2 million journeys. So, though the overall percentages are very small, the figures reveal that as passenger numbers have risen, the proportional frequency of MINDING THE GAP? RMT blasts “poisonous cocktail of cuts and overcrowding” for huge rise in injuries