Babbacombe Cliff Railway 'put passengers at risk' before fatal incident

An improvement notice were served by the HSE a month after the tragedy. Credit: BPM Media

Serious safety and maintenance failures at Babbacombe Cliff Railway have been highlighted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

It has emerged that an improvement notice was served by the HSE on the major tourist attraction in Torquay, a month after an engineer died there in September 2022.

The Babbacombe Cliff Railway Community Interest Company (CIC) is a registered charity which has run the historic railway dating back to 1926.

The improvement notice by the HSE states: "You failed to ensure there was a suitable safe system of work for setting the cliff railway into motion for normal, abnormal and maintenance operations.

"There was no written, settled and trained out code of signals for using the bell system between stations, to confirm to the driver and others that it was safe to set the cliff railway into motion.

An engineer died at Babbacombe Cliff Railway in an 'industrial incident'.

"A reliance was placed on two-way radios to continue operations when the bell system was not working. Similarly, there was no written, settled and trained out protocol for using the radios in such circumstances.

"You were operating the cliff lift with these defects and others putting passengers, employees and others at risk from serious injury."

The chairman of Babbacombe Cliff Railway CIC said that the board of trustees has been working closely with the HSE since September 2022.

Together, they have agreed on a programme of works to comply with their notice which are due to start on Tuesday 16 May.

Lindsay Yelland: "These works form part of a much larger program of routine maintenance that is undertaken by the railway each year in the off-season.

"The notices from the HSE did not prevent us from reopening last year but the trustees took the decision to remain closed due to the scope of works that were already planned for the winter of 22/23. That work has been delayed only by contractor availability.

"With regard to the HSE report, which we received in October, the trustees subcontracted maintenance over many years to a well-respected engineer with substantial knowledge of this type of railway.

"Sadly he lost his life in the accident of September 2022. As a coroner's inquest has yet to take place it would be inappropriate for us to make any public comment other than to say his death was not caused by any malfunction of the cliff railway."

Babbacombe Cliff Railway is due to reopen at the end of June 2023.