A Tube driver who opened the doors on the wrong side at Holborn Station was unfairly dismissed, a tribunal has ruled - but she will not receive compensation.
Sam Gritton was dismissed by TfL after accidentally opening both sets of doors on a busy westbound Central line on January 6, 2022 for three seconds and failing to report it immediately.
The incident was reported by a passenger at Tottenham Court Road over his fears that he “could have fallen out of the train” if he had been leaning against the doors, and a probe was launched.
Ms Gritton told bosses she did not have any recollection of the incident, and that she would have immediately raised the alarm if she did.
East London Employment Tribunal in a ruling on Friday found that she was unfairly dismissed because of failings in TfL’s investigation, but in an “exceptionally rare” judgement decided that she should not receive a payout.
It heard that Ms Gritton contested her dismissal on the grounds that five other Tube drivers had also accidentally opened the doors when they shouldn’t have, but had been allowed to keep their jobs.
Judges were also told that she was also under a lot of stress at the time of the incident due to personal circumstances.
But Employment Judge Beyzade ruled that even if TfL’s investigation had not been flawed “this would have made no difference to the outcome”, and the driver would have been dismissed anyway.
This was because the mistake was so serious it “placed members of the public at risk of serious injury or fatality.”
The panel heard that five other drivers who had made similar mistakes were allowed to keep their jobs.
In one such case, passengers boarded a train with both doors open at Newbury Park Station on September 5, 2021, causing an empty wheelchair to fall onto the tracks.
However, judges found that there were “unique” and “different” circumstances in those cases.
Employment judges heard that Holborn’s westbound platform has had multiple incidents of “wrong side door opening”, because the platform for the previous six stations are all on the right-hand side, as well as the one directly after it.
“As such the training received by new train operators of instructor operators at this location especially highlights this potential area for close attention and the procedure for wrong side opening is emphasised,” said Christophe Suant, a depot manager with London Underground.
