Request ID: FOI-0208-2425 Date published: 15 May 2024
You asked
1. In the past five years (between 2019-2024), how many suicides* have taken place on the London underground (broken down by year)?
* The number of incidents of people hit by trains where it is believed there was a deliberate intent.
1a) How many sudden deaths of customers have there been due to illness or medical condition?
1b) How many accidents have resulted in customer deaths?
1c) How many industrial accidents resulting in death - staff/contractors?
1d) How many crimes resulting in death? * Deaths on the network as victims of criminal activity. Also including deaths resulting from trespassing.
2. How many serious injuries (customers) in last five years (Same time period broken down by year)?
2a) How many serious injuries staff and contractors) last five year?
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0208-2425
Thank you for your request received on 19 April 2024 asking for information about fatalities on the London Underground network.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. You asked for:
1. In the past five years (between 2019-2024), how many suicides* have taken place on the London underground (broken down by year)? *The number of incidents of people hit by trains where it is believed there was a deliberate intent. a. How many sudden deaths of customers have there been due to illness or medical condition? b. How many accidents have resulted in customer deaths? c. How many industrial accidents resulting in death - staff/contractors? d. How many crimes resulting in death? * Deaths on the network as victims of criminal activity. Also including deaths resulting from trespassing.
2. How many serious injuries (customers) in last five years (Same time period broken down by year)? a. How many serious injuries staff and contractors) last five year?
Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the FOI (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.
The cause of death may be determined at a later stage by a coroner and may not be reported to us, or there may be a delay. Therefore we would need to cross reference data from several sources to determine whether the information we hold is comprehensive and accurate. There may, for example, be incidents where cases of trespass would be classed as an accident but would also be included within the crime data. In addition, some of the information we hold is received from the British Transport Police (BTP). Under the primary offence rule the BTP would not record trespass offences in addition to more serious offences for a single event – the most serious crime would be recorded by itself. Therefore, there may be incidents of trespass resulting in a death (which did not involve a crime being committed).
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a FOI request in future, please bear in mind that the FOI Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time or geographical area. Please also note that we are likely to strongly consider whether an exemption applies to disclosure of suicide incidents in order to prevent future occurrences of such incidents.
You may wish to look at the available information before choosing to submit a revised request. We publish our Safety, Health and Environment Annual Report alongside quarterly updates throughout the year on our website and these may provide you with some of the information you are seeking or help you refine a revised request:
Information for the 2023/24 financial year will be published in due course.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.
Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.
In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
