Lord Blunkett has called for an urgent review into what he described as “death trap” Tube platforms after he was injured falling into a gap as he boarded a train at Westminster station.
It happened as the Labour Peer, who is blind, slipped while getting on to a District line train with his guide dog, last month. He wants Transport for London (TfL) to do more to ensure visually impaired people are kept safe.
“I didn’t fully know what had happened. I felt enormous pain in both my legs; they were bruised and grazed,” the 77-year-old former home secretary and health secretary wrote in the Sun on Sunday.
London Underground said it was “extremely sorry” that Lord Blunkett was injured and will be meeting with him to ensure that lessons are learned from the incident.
Lord Blunkett, who served as the MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough between 1987 and 2015, said: “As I took a step to get on to 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.”
The fall comes after Lord Blunkett had a recent heart attack which means he must take blood thinners – making any bruising or bleeding more dangerous.
He explained that an X-ray confirmed “extraordinary bruising”, but no broken leg, and he was “angry” about what had happened.
Lord Blunkett said: “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, you cannot see.”
He is calling for TfL to fill the widest gaps on platforms and make sure there is always someone there to help, especially during rush hour.
He added “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.”
Lord Blunkett is expected to request TfL launch an urgent review into the safety of the busiest tube stations.
Nick Dent, London Underground’s director of customer operations, said: “We were extremely sorry that Lord Blunkett was injured on our network.
“We have written to, and will be meeting with, him to discuss how we could have managed the incident better and to ensure that lessons are learned.
“The safety of our customers and staff is at the forefront of everything we do, and while injuries like the one experienced by Lord Blunkett are rare, we are undertaking a huge range of work aimed at eradicating such incidents and making travelling even safer for everyone.”