TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has been accused of keeping a safety audit on oversight of driver fatigue secret from investigators looking into the fatal Sandilands tram crash.

In November 2016, seven people were killed and dozens more injured when a tram travelling more than three times the speed limit derailed at Sandilands junction on the Croydon Tramlink network.

In December, the Rail Accident Investigation Board (RAIB) found that the risk of trams overturning on bends was not properly understood by the operator Tram Operations Limited, a subsidiary of FirstGroup which runs the tram system on behalf of TfL.

But transport safety campaigner Tom Kearney has accused TfL of withholding a June 2017 report into Tram Operations Limited’s fatigue management systems from the RAIB and TfL’s own external investigators until this February, after they had returned their findings.

Now retired TfL managing director of surface transport Leon Daniels told the TfL  Safety, Sustainability and Human Resources Panel last June that an “audit of First Group’s fatigue management processes had taken place [and] these were found to be satisfactory.”

In January, London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon asked for a copy of the report but was told by London Mayor Sadiq Khan that it could not be made available until the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) and British Transport Police (BTP) had concluded their investigations.

In response to a further question from Ms Pidgeon, Mr Khan said that TfL had issued the report to the ORR, BTP and RAIB on February 12 2018, but it would not “be issued more widely until the BTP and ORR investigations have concluded.”

Mr Kearney said the 18-page audit report “raises more immediate questions about the operational safety reporting and monitoring system” put in place by Tram Operations Limited.

The report found the company’s fatigue risk management system “does not clearly detail the roles and responsibilities for those employees involved in management fatigue.”

Mr Kearney added that Tram Operations Limited’s May 2017 audit of its own fatigue managements system identified that “not all employees have sufficient knowledge of the factors that increase fatigue.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with all those affected by the Sandilands tragedy and we continue to do all we can to provide support wherever it is needed.
 
“We have always provided the RAIB, BTP and ORR with any information requested. The RAIB carried out a thorough investigation into Sandilands, including examining the issue of fatigue, and was informed of a separate fatigue incident that occurred in May 2017.
 
“The RAIB and the other authorities have been sent the report resulting from this audit. We had not yet published the audit externally to avoid prejudicing the ongoing ORR and BTP investigations, however we have now agreed with them that we will publish it by the end of this week.”