‘Terrified’ commuter dragged along platform
A commuter has told of the terrifying moment he was dragged along a Tube platform after his bag became trapped in the door.
Lee Roberts, a commercial director, was making his usual morning journey yesterday on the Northern Line from Clapham North station via London Bridge to North Greenwich.
He had failed to board three successive trains because they were so jammed with people.
Congestion is made worse at Clapham North because there is no wall separating the platforms.
Mr Roberts, 41, said: "I kept getting pushed back so I moved up the platform to try and get a space.
"When the fourth train arrived and the doors opened I squeezed on board and put my rucksack by my feet but I got pushed back again on to the platform.
"As I pulled my rucksack up to my shoulder the strap became caught in the door and as the train moved off I found myself being pulled along a few feet.
"It was terrifying, I thought I was going to get killed as there was only about 100 feet between me and the wall before the tunnel."
He added: "The worst thing was that feeling that the train couldn't stop and the driver didn't know I was there."
The shoulder strap snapped and Mr Roberts saw his bag whizzing past commuters' faces as they stood on the platform.
The rucksack was ripped from the doors and ended up on the tracks.
It contents, including personal documents and a laptop lead, were strewn next to the rails.
Mr Roberts said he pressed the emergency button on the platform to communicate with control room staff for urgent help retrieving his belongings.
He said: "I got zero help or assistance from anyone at the station. It's a joke that they said they couldn't stop the service briefly and told me to come back later."
Mr Roberts said no other passengers offered to help him.
He resorted to lying on his stomach on the platform and stretching down to retrieve his belongings.
A TfL spokeswoman said: "At 8.15am yesterday at Clapham North station a customer asked a member of London Underground staff to retrieve a magazine and work papers that had fallen onto the track.
"The Northern line is our busiest line and extremely busy at this time so our member of staff offered to collect the papers later that morning. We try to avoid interrupting services unless absolutely necessary."
