The Mayor of London, , has announced that Transport
for London (TfL) is providing £750,000 in support of Croydon
Council’s community recovery activities following the tram
tragedy at Sandilands in November 2016.
The Mayor and TfL will provide Croydon Council with the money
over the next three years to support health and social services
in New Addington and the surrounding community, where many of
those directly or indirectly affected by the tragedy live.
Croydon and local commissioning groups have proposed a range of
action to help local people, including more community and social
care and increases to adult and child mental health resources.
Potential support may include:
•
Counselling and resilience programmes for students at nearby
schools
• Support
for mental health services and alcohol and substance abuse
programmes
•
Healthcare professional training to better recognise trauma-based
presentations.
The Mayor has worked hard to provide the support needed to
everyone affected since that devastating day and to ensure that
TfL does all it can to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening
again.
TfL has sought to support bereaved families and passengers
directly affected through the provision of counselling,
rehabilitation, financial compensation, free transport and other
support. It is also working proactively with all those affected
and their legal representatives to progress their civil claims
quickly.
On the tram network, TfL has introduced a number of additional
safety measures and continues to work with the wider industry to
implement the recommendations set out by the Rail Accident
Investigation Branch (RAIB).
The Mayor of London, , said: “It’s vital
that we continue to do all we can to support everyone affected by
the tragedy at Sandilands. The New Addington community has shown
real strength in supporting one another, and I’m determined that
we continue to be there to offer our assistance in the years to
come. I hope that through this funding we can help the local
community receive the support it needs.”
Councillor Tony Newman, leader of Croydon Council,
said: “The seven people who lost their lives on
that awful day are never far from Croydon’s thoughts and I am
pleased the Mayor has made this funding available. It’s been a
council priority to ensure those that need additional support
receive the right type of help and care, and this money will
allow us to work with those affected to best assess how the
community recovery programme can help them.”
London’s Transport Commissioner, Mike Brown,
said: “Our thoughts remain with all those affected
by this tragedy and we continue to do all we can to offer our
support. We recognise that this has had a profound impact on the
local community and hope that our contribution to Croydon
Council’s community recovery programme helps improve the lives of
those directly and indirectly affected.”
TfL and Croydon Council will work together over the next three
years on identifying projects and allocating the funds.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
TfL strongly desires to provide this funding. It is not
clear, however, that the activities that the London Borough of
Croydon envisages undertaking are sufficiently linked to TfL’s
statutory powers relating to safe, integrated, efficient and
economic transport facilities and services in London. Therefore
the Mayor has delegated his wider powers to TfL and directed TfL
accordingly to enable TfL to make this payment without risk of
challenge
TfL has introduced a number of safety measures to the tram
network, including installing chevrons and speed-activated
warning signs at significant bends, lowering the maximum speed
limit across the network, and improving the protection that tram
windows and doors provide to passengers. TfL has also rolled out
a Driver Protection Device that detects the attention state of
drivers and intervenes should this fail. TfL continues to work
with the wider tram industry on these improvements and will
continue to work with them to implement the recommendations from
the RAIB’s report which apply across the industry.
TfL has sought to support bereaved families and passengers who
were directly affected through the provision of counselling,
rehabilitation, financial compensation, free transport and other
support. So far, TfL has paid more than £2m to bereaved
families and passengers and is working proactively with all those
affected and their legal representatives to progress their civil
claims as soon as practicable. To help this, TfL and the
operator of the tram service, Tram Operations Limited (a
subsidiary of FirstGroup plc) have admitted liability for the
purposes of the civil claims
