London Underground engineer ‘seriously injured’ after falling 30ft down lift shaft at a disused Tube Station

LONDON Underground has been fined £500,000 after a maintenance worker was injured in a fall at a disused station.

The worker suffered a number of injuries and spent 10 days in hospital after plunging 9.5 metres from a scaffold tower while cleaning a former lift shaft, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said.

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Its investigation found London Underground failed to properly plan, manage and supervise the work being carried out on September 22 2014.

Inspectors at disused South Kentish Town Tube station also found the scaffold was incorrectly assembled and its stability had not been assessed.

The ORR said procedures which may have prevented the fall were in place, but were not implemented or followed.

London Underground was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 costs after pleading guilty to a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act at Blackfriars Crown Court on October 7 this year.

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Keith Atkinson, HM Principal Inspector of Railways, said: "In 2014, London Underground's failure to properly plan, manage or supervise maintenance work at the disused station in South Kentish Town led to a worker spending 10 days in hospital, and could have been fatal.

"London Underground has a good safety record, but this incident highlights why there can be no room for complacency.

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"Safety remains a top priority for the rail regulator. We will always take action against companies or individuals where failings are found."

London Underground fully addressed issues relating to safe access into the former lift shaft and the incorrectly assembled scaffold following the incident.

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesman said: "This was clearly a serious incident involving one of our employees and we acted quickly to investigate the causes and take action to ensure that it does not happen again."

The news comes after commuters were stuck underground and forced to flee the broken down train by walking through tunnels.

While some of the network is disused, many of the tunnels and stations on the Underground were built by Victorian labourers and engineers - as these incredible pictures show.

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