THE GLENTUNNEL FATALITY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14979, 27 April 1909, Page 5

THE GLENTUNNEL FATALITY.

THE INQUEST CONCLUDED

\ RECOMMENDATION TO THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. The inquest on the body of John Doyle, .who was run over by a dray at Glentunnel on Monday, April 19, was resumed yesterday, afternoon, before Mr H. W. Bishop, district coroner, ana a jury of six. _ ' Agnes Doyle, widow of the deceased, gave evidence that the deceased’s age was thirty-five' She went to Glentunnel as soon as she heard her husband had met with an accident, and found him Tying on a sofa in Mr Barlow’s house. He seemed to he in terrible pain, and said he was hurt in the lower part of his body. Dr Simpson arrived about 3.30 p.m., and advised that ho should be removed to the Christchurch Hospital. Tho doctor took her husband to the Glentunnel railway station in his motor-car, and on arrival some men carried her husband into a first-class railway carriage, and laid him on tile seat. &he traye1 -' lod with him to Christchurch, accompanied by Mrs Cunnington.. On arrival of th a train at Darfield, where a change had to he made to the Christchurch train, witness remained in the carriage with her husband, and Mrs Cunnington went out for a minute or two. Witness thought the guard of the train would get assistance to move her husband on to the other train. No assistance was forthcoming, so Mrs Cunnington returned and remained with the deceased while the witness •vent to see the stationniaster. The Christchurch train had just started as gfje ran no xo where tlie stationmaster Was standing, She told the stationmaster that her husband was lying hurt in the branch train, and that she could not get him shifted, whereupon the stationmaster stopped the train, and he and tho guard of the Christchurch train carried her husband into a firstclass carriage in the Christchurch train, and laid him on a seat. Witness, Mrs Cunnington and the deceased were the only occupants of the carriage. The ambulance waggon was telephoned for from Darfield by Mr Longstaff, and was supposed to be waiting at Addington. At Addington Mrs Cunnington inquired

if it had arrived, and was told it had not. Witness and Mrs Cunnington then decided to go on to Christchurch. On arrival at Christchurch Mrs Cunnington vent out to look for the ambulance wffl’gon,, and found it had not arrived. tL'.o guard of the train said he would t:V that the train was not shunted till the ambulance waggon came, and when it did arrive the railway people lifted the deceased out of the carriage on a stretcher and put him in the waggon. The witness went with the deceased to the hospital. There was a wait at Christchurch for five or ten minutes before the ambulance waggon arrived. She did not think that the lengthening of the journey seriously increased the gravity of her husband’s condition. Her husband was handled kindly and attentively throughout. To Mr J. Grey (representing the Railway Department): She understood that the guard of the Darfield train knew that her husband was aboard the train. Ho came through the train twice. Mr Bishop: Well, he must have' known he was there. Wo will hear his explanation later. Mrs Cunnington made a statement, in the course of which she said that she was travelling on the train when it arrived at Glen tunnel, and when Doyle was brought in she looked after him, with his wife. The guards of the trains were very kind and sympathetic. She was very much surprised that the ambulance waggon was not at Addington, and nobody there knew whether it w r as going to meet the train at aU. The ambulance was between ten and fifteen minutes late in arriving at Christchurch. The deceased would have been much more comfortable on a stretcher than on the carriage seat, where he was in danger of rolling off. At Glentunnel Doyle was carried aboard the train without any support at all, and suffered severely. Roland Hill, guard of the Whitecliffs train, on which Doyle was taken to Darfield, said that he had been seventeen years in the railway service as a guard. He knew that the deceased was put on the train at Glentunnel, and on arrival at Darfield he told the stationniaster there that there was an injured man on his/train. . This was about five minutes before the train for Christchurch had arrived from Springfield. Nothing could then be done in the way of removing Doyle, and witness and the stationniaster proceeded with shunting operations, and when the Springfield train came in they had further shunting to do. Mr Bishop: The witness discharged his duty when lie informed tho stationmaster of the state of affairs. Edward Joseph L.egard, stationmaeter at Darfield, said that he had been at Darfield over two years. Guard Hill informed him there was an injured man on the Glentunnel train. Witness asked if there was anyone in charge of him. and on being told there was he further asked if they required any assistance. Tho guard replied that they did, and witness told the guard to hurry along with his work, so that they could later give the necessary assistance. Witness, on finishing his shunting duties, walked as far as tho guard's van of the Christchurch train, to see that all the passengers were aboard, and seeing nobody about, came to tho conclusion that Doyle had been taken aboard. Ho then gave the signal to start the train, but a& he did so it struck him that Doyle might not have been transferred, and ho signalled the train to stop. The signal was at once obeyed, the train not having actually started. While he was giving the stop signal Mrs Doyle came and told him her husband had not been transferred! Witness at once assisted to convey Doyle aboard the Christchurch train. On entering the carriage where he was lying, he asked Mrs Cunnington where Doyle was injured, and was told he was injured internally. , From the position of Doyle witness could easily see Doyle was injured in the groin. As it would have meant the necessity for eight men to lift Doyle out of the carriage on the carriage seat, witness held Dovle, while someone else held his legs, to keop him as straight as possible.,' This was done as carefully as possible, and with a view to causing Doyle a minimum of discomfort. He had no information about Doyle except what he received from the guard. Mr Bishop: As a matter of fact, I suppose, you did not realise that the man’s injuries might be serious. The witness said be understood that Doyle was an invalid, and not suffering from the results of -accident. Stretchers were always kept at terminal stations, and could then bo used over any portion of a lino. Mr Bishop: But what, is the position if the public do not know where the stretcher is kept? Would it not be more reasonable if stretchers could be kept at junctions as well as terminal stations? The Witness:, Certainly. Mr Grey said stretchers were carried on mail night trains, but not on bi-anch line trains. It would have been possible in this case to get a stretcher from Whitecliffs. Mrs Doyle had plenty of friends at the station. . Mr Bishop: I know from experience that nobodv is to blame in these cases, Mr Grey, but I feel utterly unable to see why a stretcher should not .be kept at Darfield. * • , Mr Grey said that it was probable that after this there would be a Stretcher placed in every guard’s van. i Mr Bishop: That is exactly the object of an inquiry: not to blame, but to prevent a recurrence of mistakes in future. , r _. , ~ Addressing the jury, Mr Bishop said that every point appeared to be cleared up. There was no inclination on the part of the deceased's widow to throw the blame on anyone. There seemed to be some degree ot neglect upon the part of the stationniaster at Darfield in not making further inquiries as to Doyle, but he bad no desire to comment on that. Tho delay m the arrival of the ambulance waggon was a matter between the people who were responsible for its attendance and the Association that employed them. There was a contract between Messrs Hayward and Co. and the St John Ambulance Association for this work. He had no doubt that the result of the inquiry would be to make the Associalion insist upon prompt and proper attention in cases of this kind. The secretary of the Association had handed, him a letter forwarded to the Association by Messrs Hayward and Co. givj,jrr their version of tue matter, and, in fairness to all parties concerned, he proposed to read it. The letter was one written by Messrs Hayward and Co. in response to a request for an explanation as to the delay at Addington. It stated that Addington railway station was at. present in a state of chaos in consequence of building operations, and it was very difficult to approach it. with any vehicle “That is quite- correct, Mr Urey.’ 1 queried Mr Bishop at this point. Mr Grey: “Oh, no; not at all! Mr Bishop: “I know it is verv difficult. to approach it on foot, and if it is possible for a. vehicle to get to it, I don’t know it.” ... The letter continued that a few nights previous to tho occasion of

Doyle’s arrival the ambulance waggon was ordered to meet the train, ana the man in charge presented himself at the Lincoln Road crossing. After the train had gone on from Addington he was let on to the station yard by the Spreydon gato by a porter, and the person for whom the ambulance waggon waited had to be carried across the rails to the waggon. On the occasion of Doyle’s arrival the driver expected to go through the same routine, and was actually present near the crossing when the train crossed it, and he would, have remained waiting there had. not the signalman told him to go on to Christchurch. The statement in that morning’s newspaper that the ambulance was waited for for ten minutes at Christchurch was quite untrue, as the van was there ten minutes before anyone required it, and the driver had to institute inquiries to se"e if he was wanted at all. The real causo of the patient having to go on to Christchurch was that he was not on a stretcher, and it was inadvisable to carry him across the lines to the van without one. Messrs Hayward and Co. had no' instructions to have the stretcher out. of the van on the railway platform, and could scarcely be blamed lor not knowing that this was wanted. Their share of the blame was small, and the circumstances had been greatly exaggerated. Mr Bishop said that in cases like this it was " every man for himself,” and nobody could be found to accept blame. However, the unfortunate man Doyle was dead, and would have died in any case, and the main object of the inquiry had been gained. He was glad to have Mr Grey’s assurance that, extra facilities would be provided and extra precautions taken by the Railway Department in future. He thought the case-would be met by a verdict that the deceased had met his death as the result of injuries received by being rnn over by a spring dray at Glentunnel. Having exhausted all possible avenues of inquiry, it was not very necessary to make anv further reinarn upon the matter. 'The St John Ambulance Association had announced that in future it would send a trained tnan with the ambulance Van, so tnat skilled attention would be available in future oases of this kind on the arrival of a train. The jurv returned a verdict on the lines of Mr Bishop’s suggestion, adding. however, a recommendaiion to the Railway Department that iir future every guard’s van should be equipped with an ambulance stretcher.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln vour report of- the inquest on the late Mr Doyle at the Hospital last. Friday night, you say in Mr Anstiss’s evidence that, deceased was carried from the motor-car to the carriage on a - wheelbarrow. This is an error that I think you ought, to correct. The facts are, I lifted Mr Doyle out of the motor and rested him on the barrow, the doctor being alongside of him. until the train came in, I then carried him to the carriage in. my arms. The harrow was not moved at all, only used as a rest for the few minutes we had to -wait.—l am, etc., J. LONGSTAFF.