A tragic end to a train driver's career

[theironroad]

Could happen to any train driver out there...

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/128..._after_not_getting_help__says_brother/?ref=ar

THE BROTHER of a tragic train driver who watched helplessly as his engine killed a teenager has called on rail companies to provide more help for traumatised staff.

David Roberts said he feared his brother Stephen Douglas would drink himself to death after his life fell apart following the horrific accident in 2003.

Mr Douglas, 50, from Darlington, started drinking heavily after the Arriva train he was driving hit and killed teenager Ben Williams, who had been lying across the rails.

An inquest later heard that the victim, who lived in Middlesbrough, suffered from attention deficiency disorder and was an attention seeker, who often laughed when the risks and dangers of situations were pointed out to him.

 

[321446]

A terribly sad and horribly unfortunate case.

The thing is, everybody is different. Some people would never recover, no matter what. Others just need to know there is help available and that people care, that starts the process. Others have all the love and support they need and that works wonders.

Hand on heart, there but for the grace of God go a number of people, myself included. I was in the latter side of the scale, luckily.

I sincerely and honestly wish him well.

 

[pemma]

I hope that anyone who reads that and feels sympathy for the driver, won't post words like 'selfish' or 'inconsiderate' when threads are posted about suicidal persons who are killed by being hit by a train.

 

[321446]

Certainly won't hear that from me.

Got a insight into the working of the human mind and the strange things it's capable of doing from literally both sides of the coin. Before I may well have said that very thing. Not now.

I appreciate that this is a very emotive subject. And some may not wish to see things about it, which I understand. But I think the WHOLE subject is important from an understanding others point of view.

Opened my mind. As did talking to others. And having a mearest glimpse into the minds of others.

I will leave it there. I've said me piece. IF the discussions continue, can they be kept respectful?

 

[pemma]

Certainly won't hear that from me.

Got a insight into the working of the human mind and the strange things it's capable of doing from literally both sides of the coin. Before I may well have said that very thing. Not now.

I appreciate that this is a very emotive subject. And some may not wish to see things about it, which I understand. But I think the WHOLE subject is important from an understanding others point of view.

Opened my mind. As did talking to others. And having a mearest glimpse into the minds of others.

I will leave it there. I've said me piece. IF the discussions continue, can they be kept respectful?

It's just a lot of negative comments appear when suicide incidents on the railways occur and I would hope the people who feel that way feel a bit differently after seeing this story.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's terrible, but I have to say that my first reaction is that Arriva have failed that driver. If someone is affected so badly by something they experience at work, then the employer should be leaving no stone unturned to help them. It might not always work, but "some counselling which has now stopped" isn't really good enough.

It's obviously hard for Arriva to do much now- those jobs are now either with Northern or First- but I think it's shocking his employer have just left him to the booze. He goes to them saying he needs help, and they respond by sacking him. Nice touch, I thought.

I imagine that what made this case worse is that it wasn't a suicide, it was a prank gone wrong.

 

[Chrisgr31]

One always has to have the greatest sympathy for any train driver who hits someone, because at the end of the day they have virtually no ability to make any difference to the outcome. They can just sound the horn, slam on the brakes and then pray the train stops in time, or the person gets out the way.

Its no surprise that it hits some people extremely badly and they ought to receive all the help they need, for as long as it is needed.

 

[DarloRich]

I saw this story recently in the Northern Echo but decided not to post it here as it didn't seem appropriate. It seems very sad.

 

[Bevan Price]

We don't know all the sad details, but in similar cases, surely the employer might be able to find some "non-operational" jobs for drivers badly affected by mishaps ??

 

[455driver]

This one relates to an incident in 2003, 12 years ago, the TOCs have improved immensely in that time.

 

[dk1]

This one relates to an incident in 2003, 12 years ago, the TOCs have improved immensely in that time.

& they where good then. I suffered my first of three fatalities just after that & have no issues with my employer. They have always been superb.

 

[muz379]

I guess its one of them things . No matter how good the support that is available there will always be people for whom incidents like that have a lasting and very damaging effect

. I know people who commit suicide in that way are in a very low place dont get me wrong but I really wish they would consider if not their own life the life of the poor driver who has to witness their death . I know the kid who was killed in that incident wasn't said to have committed suicide which is even worse .

admittedly It is one of the things that makes me apprehensive about going driving . There is no way to predict how you would react in that situation .

 

[321446]

You don't know how you will react. I was all prepared for it. Until it happened. Near misses scare me more now. But it's each to their own.

If you are driving a car and a small child runs out in front of you....if you don't drive into that lamp-post to avoid them, you would never forgive yourself. Can't do that with a train. Horrible that they had no more choice than that. Horrible.

 

[TDK]

As 455 has said things have changed immensely since 2003 however this doesn't help the poor sole who's life has been ruined for just doing his job, this is not an isolated case either.

Many people say "it's a part of the job" when in fact no preparation is valid as everyone is different.

I just hope he is getting help now albeit a tad too late.

 

[Blamethrower]

do they not get the same counseling service as the firemen, police and nhs? If not then they should.

The thing is that mental health isn't a big gaping wound with blood pouring out of it. So the bean counters probably don't consider it as serious as someone having their leg cut off.

I see it the same as the NHS with back pain. They don't pay for chiropractors or osteopaths, however if your back is snapped then that is a tangible ailment and they will fund the chiropody.

Sad state of affairs

 

[Busaholic]

We don't know all the sad details, but in similar cases, surely the employer might be able to find some "non-operational" jobs for drivers badly affected by mishaps ??

Showing my age, but I worked in the same department in the public sector in the 1970s as someone diagnosed with 'shell shock' from World War II, and my wife in the private sector also had a similar colleague. They could both do relatively menial and repetitive jobs, so long as they were not subject to stress. Computerisation and mechanisation generally has taken away such jobs, but I am sure with careful consideration employers could create openings for some such people and they could continue to lead useful lives. Actually, I suspect someone I worked with at London Underground may well have fallen into this category too, though I never enquired too closely.