THREE weeks ago I was aiming to board a London Underground train when I slipped in the gap between the platform and the carriage.
It was a terrifying moment, and one I will never forget.
Even now I am not 100 per cent sure exactly what happened. I still have flashbacks – it all happened in what seemed like a second.
The day had been ordinary, I had met my friend and was off to watch Sheffield Wednesday play at Brentford.
We were in Westminster tube station and it was rush hour. My friend led the way, as was agreed, so that my dog, Barley, could follow (as he has been trained to do). I instructed Barley to “hop up”, which is the command whenever he needs to go ahead.
But as I took a step to get onto the tube train I suddenly felt both my feet disappearing down the gap.
In an instant my body had been propelled forward into the carriage and I was face down on the floor. My legs had somehow been scraped out of the gap and into the carriage.
I didn’t fully know what had happened. I felt enormous pain in both my legs; they were bruised and grazed.
Looking back, I must have lost my footing because “the gap” between the tube and platform was so large, and fallen – but then was forced onto the tube anyway by the crowd behind me.
As I sat in excruciating pain I was really worried. I recently had a heart attack while in Italy and ended up in intensive care.
I am now on blood thinners, and as pointed out in my excellent follow-up procedures with the NHS, any bleeding or bruising is dangerous.
I managed to see a doctor at the football ground who advised me to go to A&E first thing in the morning.
I first attended St Thomas’, where I was lucky, as I arrived at a point where staff were not completely beleaguered. X-rays confirmed extraordinary bruising but not a broken leg.
Both legs hurt like hell, and one needed draining, but I would be OK.
Thank goodness I was able to follow up at a specialist unit in my home city of Sheffield, with expert treatment of long-term injuries of this kind and avoiding the dangerous consequences of infection.
But I am angry about what happened to me.
Whenever you step into a tube station in London you hear the tannoy warn people to “mind the gap”. But too often there are no staff members to actually help you if – like me – cannot see.
The day of my accident the staff member who was meant to be attending the platform had been called away because someone had been attacked.
Clearly, it is vital that there should always be someone on hand, especially during rush hour.
Some of our platforms are death traps. The gap between the walkway and train is huge and they are unsafe for everyone, but particularly for blind people.
Evidently, Transport for London do not have the money to widen all platforms.
But where the gaps are greatest, priority should be given to creative action to “fill the gap”. It is crucial to stop others having to have the painful and lasting experience which I suffered.
I do not easily get scared. I have been navigating Britain’s streets and stations with my guide dog for decades.
But that day I was spooked.
How many others have fallen and been seriously injured because of the gap?
How many injuries have not been reported, and how many even more serious than mine have been properly followed up to prevent real tragedies in the future?
I will shortly meet Transport for London to demand answers and urgent review into the safety of our busiest tube stations, for the sake of us all.
It is not good enough to simply say “mind the gap” and not give any help. We need action now to avoid preventable injury or worse.
By Lord Blunkett