Sat, 04 Oct 2025

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 Rail firm fined £1m over train passenger's death

Bethan Roper was killed in 2018 when she leaned out of a droplight window on a moving train.

* A rail operator, Great Western Railway (GWR), has been fined £1 million and ordered to pay £78,000 for breaching health and safety law.
* The fine relates to the death of 28-year-old Bethan Roper in 2018, who was killed when her head struck a tree branch through a droplight window on a GWR train near Twerton in Bath.
* An investigation found that GWR had been aware of the risk posed by droplight windows since a risk assessment two months before the accident, but had not implemented steps to address it.
* The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said that Ms Roper's death was "a preventable tragedy" that highlights the need for train operators to proactively manage risks.
* Since Ms Roper's death, measures have been introduced across the rail industry to prevent passengers leaning out of droplight windows.
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