Residents, families and survivors gathered in New Addington today (November 9) to remember the seven people killed in the Croydon tram derailment, a decade after the tragedy.
While communities across the UK came together over the weekend to honour fallen servicemen and women on Remembrance Sunday, Croydon residents gathered for a second day to mark a decade since one of the borough’s darkest days.
The Croydon tram derailment on November 9, 2016, claimed seven lives and left more than 60 passengers injured, sending shockwaves across the country and prompting a major review of tram safety.
A decade on, those affected by the tragedy say the strength of the local community has shone through despite the loss, as residents gathered in New Addington today (November 9) to mark the anniversary.
“I think Croydon gets a lot of bad rep and I can’t bare the negative press that we get, but when you get moments like this…that is the true Croydon,” tram crash survivor Zehra Jaffer told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after addressing the anniversary gathering.
Zehra said November 9, 2016, began like any other day. She boarded the tram at Lloyd Park on her way to work, but soon noticed something was wrong as it entered the Sandilands tunnel.
“When you are a regular passenger you get used to every sound, the sound of the doors as they close, the rattle of the tram as it goes round the corner. The tram should have slowed, and I caught a fellow passenger’s eye and I could see he thought the same.
“As I turned my head I could see those golden sparks of metal against the window. Then it happened.”
At 6.07am, the tram approached a sharp bend near Sandilands tram stop. Despite the speed limit dropping from 50mph to 12mph, it failed to slow down and overturned. The seven people who lost their lives due to the incident were Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, Robert Huxley, 63, and Philip Logan, 52, all from New Addington, and Donald Collett, 62, and Mark Smith, 35, both from Croydon.
Investigators found the driver, Alfred Dorris, had likely lost awareness due to a brief episode of microsleep before the crash, and criticised inadequate signage warning of the sudden speed change. An inquest returned verdicts of accidental death for all seven victims.
“While the crash doesn’t define me, the harrowing memories persist and take on different shades,” Zehra told the LDRS. “No matter how dark these moments are or will be, there are those who will make you stronger and get you through.”
Amid the horror, Zehra recalled how two fellow passengers came to her aid by using rocks to lift a frame that had trapped her legs.
“I only found this out a couple of months after in a survivors meeting,” she told the LDRS. “I was unconscious, but I knew there was someone around me at the time.
“I still see one of them, if I get the early tram, and we often chat when we see each other.
“Whenever I look at them I think if you hadn’t done what you had, I don’t know where my legs would be.”
Survivors like Zehra, and others who spoke at the event, said they were determined not to let the incident define them, while acknowledging the lasting pain and trauma it continues to cause.
“It is part of my history and part of the person I am now,” said Katrina, a survivor who had her statement read out during the ceremony.
“There will be 61 different individual stories of the physical and emotional trauma of this accident,” she added. “I sincerely hope each of us had found a way to cope with life over the last 10 years.”
Families of those killed in the derailment gathered today’s ceremony, where they laid wreaths at the memorial alongside local leaders and members of the emergency services.
Alongside prayers and speeches, music also played a key role in the ceremony, with choirs from Fairchildes and Good Shepherd schools performing for the crowd. The ceremony concluded with an emotional guitar rendition of Prince’s Purple Rain by Daniel Allen, who dedicated the performance to his beloved grandfather Phillip Logan.
“Music was a really big part of the connection between me and my Grandad,” he told the LDRS.
“Purple Rain was a song that resonated quite deeply between me and my Grandad. I thought it would be amazing for this to be able to play it for him.”
Daniel, a member of local band 50 Calibre, said the ceremony showed how the community had remained united in the decade since the tragedy. “I think it shows really how amazing New Addington is, how everybody is part of one big community and everyone always comes together in the end,” he said.
Croydon East MP Natasha Irons told the LDRS how the impact of the derailment could still be felt on the New Addington community ten years on. “Everyone is determined to remember and honour those who were lost,” she said.
“I think the memorials will carry on much further as everyone knows someone that was impacted by this.”
Gesturing to the children’s choir, Irons said: “This memorial makes sure the children understand the story of what happened that day, and means the memories of those people impacted will live on.”
When asked if enough had been done by Transport for London following the incident, Irons said: “The outcomes from the investigation were measures that TfL had to put in place and they have done that, I think everybody can see that from themselves. We just have to ensure that never happens again.”
Croydon’s Mayor Jason Perry, also in attendance today, said: “Ten years may have passed, but the tragedy at Sandilands has never been forgotten by the people of Croydon. Seven lives were lost that day, leaving behind grieving families, friends and a community whose lives were changed forever.
“As we mark this solemn anniversary, our thoughts are first and foremost with those who lost loved ones, those who survived, and everyone who continues to live with the consequences of that terrible day.
“Croydon will always remember those we lost. We owe it to them, and to their families, to ensure their names and their stories are never forgotten. On the anniversary, and always, we stand together in remembrance.”
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