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A mother of two, who lost an arm and a leg when she was hit by two London Underground trains, says she is suing Transport for London (TfL).
Sarah de Lagarde suffered the horrific injuries after she fell into the gap between a stationary train and the platform at High Barnet station in north London in September 2022.
The 46-year-old said she slipped on a wet and uneven platform and “fell into the darkness”.
The fall initially left her with a broken nose and two broken front teeth.
However she then lost her right arm when the train left the platform and despite shouting for help, nobody heard her, so when the next train came into the station, she lost her right leg.
She now uses two prosthetic limbs, including a bionic arm.
Speaking on The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee, Ms de Lagarde said she has launched legal action against TfL, which she says, has not accepted responsibility for what happened.
Ms de Lagarde said that since the accident, “I’ve been trying to engage with TFL” to discuss “mapping out the learnings because acceptance of failures leads to innovation.
“I have had no response, no engagement, no apology, and now a formal denying of liability of responsibility. For me, that leaves me no other option… and legal action is what I now have to resort to, not what I wanted to do.”
She said: “I am calling on Sadiq Khan again to meet me and other victims of the London Transport Network to discuss these issues urgently before anyone else gets hurt or killed in this way.”
Ms de Lagarde, who works in communications, claims the Mayor of London’s office has turned down her requests for a meeting with Mr Khan, despite an intervention from Sir Keir Starmer – the Labour leader is Ms de Lagarde’s MP.
Mr Khan is chairman of the TfL board.
“We need there to be an independent and comprehensive review of TfL’s safety procedures so that meaningful lessons can be learned,” she said.
Accidents are still happening on the capital’s transport network, she claimed.
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London on Wednesday, she said: “There were no staff on that platform, and no one was watching CCTV. No one had responded to my screams for help.
“Twenty-two tonnes of steel crushed my limbs, and, if that wasn’t bad enough, I remained on the tracks undetected until the second train came into the station, crushing me for a second time.
“A few weeks before I was hit by the two Tube trains, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with my husband, which was a lifelong dream of mine.
“I felt on top of the world, and overnight all that changed. I am now severely disabled for life.”
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Nick Dent, director of customer operations at London Underground, said: “TfL is responding to a legal claim which has been brought by solicitors on behalf of Sarah De Lagarde and I am not in a position to comment publicly further.
“However, our thoughts continue to be with Sarah and her family following the devastating incident at High Barnet station and we have offered her direct support.
“Safety is our top priority and we continue to take every possible measure to learn from any incident and put in place appropriate improvements.”
A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “The mayor’s thoughts remain with Sarah and her loved ones. He has asked to be kept updated and is very keen to meet with Sarah once the claim is resolved.”
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