SBS Transit found ‘100% responsible’ in 2022 incident where woman’s head & neck got caught in closing train doors
In a judgement published on Wednesday (20 Aug), a judge ruled that SBS Transit was fully responsible for an incident in which a passenger’s head and neck became trapped in the closing doors of a train.
The incident occurred on 27 June 2022 at 10.34am, when the claimant, Ng Lai Ping, boarded a Punggol-bound train at Sengkang MRT station.
She was planning to ride the train from Punggol back to Little India station.
Source: Wikipedia, for illustration purposes only
Upon reaching Punggol MRT station, Ms Ng remained seated along with five other passengers in the same carriage.
Woman’s head trapped in doors after tripping
According to Ms Ng, she heard an announcement about the resumption of service but did not hear any announcement that her train would be taken out of service.
She also claimed that no staff entered the carriage to inform passengers to alight.
Suddenly, the lights in the train carriage turned off, leaving only the lights above the doors.
Ms Ng then heard beeping sounds, signalling that the train doors were about to close.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, for illustration purposes only
The other five passengers alighted, and in her hurry to follow, Ms Ng was delayed by having to pick up her bag from the floor.
She alleged that the train was poorly lit and that the reflective floor made it difficult to see clearly.
In her rush, Ms Ng tripped and fell face-first towards the platform gap.
As she fell, the train doors closed on her head and neck, trapping her for one to two seconds.
SBS Transit claims ‘out of service’ announcement was played
SBS Transit disputed Ms Ng’s version of events, stating that an ‘Out of Service’ announcement was played in four languages during the train’s journey to Punggol.
Additionally, the company claimed a ‘Do Not Board’ announcement was made at the Punggol MRT station platform.
It denied that a resumption of service announcement was played.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, for illustration purposes only
SBS Transit also provided CCTV footage of the incident, though it lacked audio.
While the company acknowledged that no staff member entered carriage five, where Ms Ng was seated, it stated that staff had verbally instructed passengers to leave from carriage six.
Judge highlights that all 6 passengers in carriage remained seated
Judge Sim Mei Ling observed that Ms Ng was not wearing headphones or using her phone during the incident, making it likely that she would have heard the ‘Out of Service’ announcement if it had been played.
The judge also noted that all five other passengers in carriage five did not initially alight at Punggol MRT station, which supported Ms Ng’s claim that the ‘Resumption of Service’ announcement had played instead.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, for illustration purposes only
SBS Transit, however, could not provide direct evidence that the ‘Out of Service’ announcement had been played.
SBS Transit found 100% responsible for train doors incident
Judge Sim further remarked that SBS Transit failed to call several staff members who would have been able to hear the alleged platform announcements as witnesses.
She drew an adverse inference, suggesting that their testimony would have been unfavourable to the defendant’s claims.
As a result, the judge found it more likely that no ‘Do Not Board’ announcement had been made for Platform A, where the train was located.
Ultimately, Judge Sim concluded that SBS Transit had breached its duty of care and was “100% responsible” for the incident.
The trial will continue to address the remaining issues of liability and damages.
Also read: Woman’s walking stick gets stuck between MRT train doors, squeezes her way into carriage
Woman’s walking stick gets stuck between MRT train doors, squeezes her way into carriage
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Featured image adapted from Wikimedia Commons, for illustration purposes only.
