Croydon Tram Crash: Transport For London To Pay For Victims’ Funerals

Gesture comes as report into crash is set to be published.

Transport for London (TfL) has offered to pay for the funerals of the seven victims of the Croydon tram crash.

Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Logan, 52, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, and Robert Huxley, 63, all from New Addington, and Mark Smith, 35 and Donald Collett, 62, both from Croydon, were killed when their tram derailed on a tight bend before flipping on its side last week.  

TfL has pledged to do “everything we can to support the families and all those affected”.

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Seven people were killed in the crash
Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Mike Brown, London’s Transport Commissioner, told the Press Association: “This includes covering funeral costs and travel expenses for relatives.

“The TfL Sarah Hope line is available 24 hours a day to provide advice on a whole range of matters and immediate financial and other support.”

The gesture comes as a report is due to be published into the accident, which occurred during the morning rush on November 9.

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Dane Chinnery, 19, was on his way to work when he was killed in the accident
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The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) will publish its initial findings into why the two-carriage tram came off the tracks in south London, killing six men and one woman, and leaving more than 50 injured.

A RAIB spokesman revealed last week that the vehicle was travelling at a “significantly higher speed” than the 12mph limit for that section of the network. 

The organisation’s interim report will be published on Wednesday afternoon with a full report not expected for several months. 

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Mark Smith with his partner Indre Novikovaite and their son
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The tram’s driver, Alfred Dorris, 42, from Beckenham, south London, was arrested at the scene and was questioned on suspicion of manslaughter before being bailed until May. 

A spokeswoman for First Group, which carries out the day-to-day operation of the trams, said he had worked at the company since March 2008. 

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Floral tributes are being left at the scene
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It is understood that establishing if Dorris was asleep or had blacked out are lines of inquiry.

The contents of a so-called black box data recorder on the tram were downloaded by investigators. 

The Croydon derailment is the biggest loss of life on the British tram system since 1917, when a tram running down a hill in Dover killed 11.