Event    From 8/4/1953 

Stratford Underground crash

Categories: Tragedy, Transport

The accident, caused by driver error after a signal failure, occurred on the Central line of the London Underground. A signal in the tunnel between Stratford and Leyton had been damaged, and this and the preceding signal were both showing red. Trains were moving slowly past the failed signals, under the 'Stop and Proceed' rule, in which they were required to move with extreme caution.

However, one train collided with the back of another which was waiting at the first signal, and the front two coaches were partially telescoped. 12 people died and 46 were injured. The website from which our photograph is taken also includes a Pathé News item on the rescue operation.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Stratford Underground crash

Commemorated ati

Stratford Underground crash

{Above the London Transport logo:} In remembrance of the twelve people killed...

Read More

Other Subjects

murder in 1915

murder in 1915

The body of Alice Elizabeth Jarman, 40, of Notting Dale was found in a ditch in Hyde Park, near the Buck Hill bastion, on 19 February 1915.  A bayonet was found in a gully but was examined with neg...

Event, Tragedy

1 memorial
John Petty

John Petty

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 21. Buried in grave 2 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Marc Gajardo

Marc Gajardo

British, killed by the Bali bomb, age 30.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Armenian Genocide

Armenian Genocide

Inflicted by the Turkish government on the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire, 1915-18 and 1920-3, with one and a half million victims.  However it is a sensitive issue, with the numbers dis...

Event, Tragedy, Armenia, Turkey

1 memorial