My child had a horrific accident on an escalator

[Oneluckyescape]

This is not an IABU, but I wasn’t sure of the best place to post it, and wanted as many people as possible to read it in case it might be useful to them.

I am always paranoid whenever I am near an escalator with my children and I make sure I hold their hand and remind them to be careful, not to play or be silly on it, to hold on properly to the handrail. This is in part due to the stories I have heard about children wearing crocs on escalators, but somehow I just had this idea that the dangerous parts of the escalator were the “teeth” at the bottom or top of the escalator (the comb plate), or in the crack between the steps. What I was unaware of was the danger of the brush and the gap on the sides of the escalator.

Last week some friends came to visit and we arranged to meet them in central London. After a day of visiting a crowded museum and having a late lunch, we decided to go to Hyde Park to watch the Winter Wonderland lights. As we stepped inside the underground station we stopped to look at the map and figure out the best route. We then started to walk in the direction of the escalators. As usual, my first instinct was to grab my children’s hand. Only the youngest was right next to me. The older one (8 years-old) was a bit further ahead as we were a large group, and as we approached the escalator there were already three people between him and me. I saw that DH was one of them, and was in the step right behind DS. I thought it would be okay then, as DS is older now and was standing next to his dad. I thought to myself if just this time I am not next to him reminding him to be careful on the escalator, I’m sure it will be okay.

We started to go down the long escalator and just a few moments later I heard a really loud distressed high pitched scream. At first I didn’t know where it came from, I looked down at the escalator coming up on the other direction or ours expecting to see a woman in trouble but eventually I saw it was coming from someone not far in front of me. My biggest nightmare came true when I realised it was my own son lying on the step with DH sitting next to him hugging him as he continued to cry non-stop. I looked everywhere to see why he was crying and it was then I noticed the escalator had swallowed his whole foot and was dragging DS along as he screamed. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen. I was so upset that the next things that happened are a blur. People started shouting for help and to stop the escalator. Someone at the bottom pushed one of those red buttons to stop the escalator. Someone from TFL arrived at the scene and said help was on its way. They cleared out the place, and asked me to go and wait in one of the station offices with my youngest son that was frightened and would not stop crying saying that he didn’t want his brother to die.

I waited in the office for what seemed like ages, my thoughts going forward and backward from fearing the worst to praying for a miracle where things could be like it had never happened. The people from TFL and emergency services were amazing. The police was the first to arrive at the scene, and DH told me how they took apart the panels, cut through his boot (he was wearing wellies) and sock, and managed to remove his foot, intact, with all his toes and everything, only bruised and with minor cuts. They said he was a lucky boy.

I later spoke with the TFL staff as I wanted to understand what went wrong. I also tried to google any incidents involving wellies, in case like the crocs, it had been due to DS wearing unsuitable footwear. At the end it turns out it can happen with any kind of shoes, but crocs are worse because they are soft and offer little protection to the feet. In a way it seems it was good his foot was in a welly as the thick rubber protected the foot, and at the same time they were able to cut through it to dislodge the foot. I also asked my son how it happened, if he had been playing and accidentally put his foot through the gap in the brushes. He said he didn’t. At first he had been standing in the middle of the step but someone came down walking on the left side and wanted to pass by so DS moved to the right. Then he crossed his left foot in front of the right one to stand like that and the tip of the left boot must have touched the edge of the skirt panel. It seems that the friction created by this contact drew his foot in the gap by the skirt panel and entrapped it inside. My son said he didn’t put his foot inside the gap, but that he just felt as if something suddenly pulled it inside.

When I tried searching for other incidents involving wellies in escalators I couldn’t find many, most of the accidents reported seem to involve crocs. There was, however, a thread posted by someone on Mumsnet many years ago with a similar incident on an escalator inside an underground station in London that involved a toddler wearing crocs. From reading that thread I saw that many people remember some Public Information Broadcasts from the 80s with a pair of empty wellies travelling on an escalator, but some people had never seen them (myself included, as I grew up in a different country). For those, I hope that reading this helps to raise awareness and decreases the chances of it happening again to another child.

I agree, @LornaMumsnet response sounds like she doubts the op, which is pretty rubbish considering the effort the poor op has gone to to verify her story.

Op, (and others who've shared stories and photos) thanks for posting. I live in London and had no idea this was an issue. I assumed the yellow boxes were to help visually impaired people step onto the steps, not warn of danger at the side. I'll be sharing the photos and video with my children (and friends so they can do the same) so they know to be more careful.

There are some unpleasant posters around this morning.

Erm, dingoatemybaby, the photo clearly shows text from A&E staying firefighters freed his foot.... maybe read properly before making yourself look silly

Hi again all,

We're never able to vouch for someone completely but in this instance, we don't have any reason to suspect the OP. Apologies for any poor wording here.

For goodness sake stop with the troll hunting, the op has more then proved her story. I can't believe someone actually took the trouble to ask someone who works for the tube to try and catch the op out. Can people get banned for troll hunting

I think that the OP has posted more than enough proof (even though there was no need) so why are people still being twats?

Can people get banned for troll hunting?

Good point. Put a stop to this nonsense MNHQ. Please.

@LornaMumsnet the trollhunting on this thread has been absolutely appalling. I hope some of the worst offenders are banned.

OP, I'm so sorry this happened to you and your DS, thank you for raising awareness of this.

I've been an A&E nurse for many years and have seen plenty of similar incidents. FWIW the photo you posted of your DS's foot shows injury entirely consistent with the mechanism you describe, although why you should have had to offer proof is beyond my understanding.

dingoatemybaby you are entitled to believe what you want. But like Psychobabble123 said to you, read properly before you post?

I never said anything about evacuating a tube station. I said the area where it happened was cleared. They put one of those yellow cordons to close access to the down escalator. And told the people on that escalator (the one that stopped) to go away so that when help arrived they could concentrate in helping my son. There were other escalators working next to ours, and people kept going about their business. I remember that when the man from TFL told me to go and wait in the office because he could see I was in shock and my younger son was crying, I walked up the escalator and saw that people kept coming in and out from the station as if nothing had happened and it felt surreal, because for me it was so horrible, but for others it was just another normal Friday afternoon.

You said that Legally tfl have to add any incidences that affect the public, maybe this explains why you didn't find anything, because it didn't affect the public? Only one escalator stopped working, the others were fine and people kept going in and out of the station as normal, just not on the escalator were my son was trapped.

The man from TFL said they had called the police, firemen and two ambulances. The police arrived first, later the firemen. The ambulances never arrived in the end. They did not show up like you think. I did explain this, but you don't seem to have read it properly. The copy of the patient report form is from British Transport Police, and the letter from the hospital describes that they "had to get fireman to cut welly off".

You say I’m willing to believe the son briefly caught and bruised his foot and that the mum took him to A&E., and if you think about it, that is exactly what happened. His foot got trapped around 18:00 because the phone call I made to tell my mum was at 18:13, and DS was given oxygen at 18:20. I was told it was because he was shaken after the shock, but that he was actually fine and his foot was okay. This means it was over in minutes, so yes, it was relatively brief like you say, but to me, that had no idea there was a gap and could only think his foot was gone, or crushed so badly he would lose it, "minutes" felt like ages, "only bruised" like a miracle, and that "only resulted in a trip to A&E" and an X-ray that said there was no lasting damage, a miracle again.

I don't think I would have been brave enough to post on here if the outcome had been different. But because he was fine in the end, I felt it was okay for me to share it, because I knew that like me there would be others who didn't know about those gaps on the side.

leeloo1 I also lived in London for many years and like you, I had no idea there was a gap on the sides of the escalator and that something like this could happen. I also saw the yellow lines on the sides but never gave them much thought, I never paid attention to the red buttons and didn't know you could stop the escalator with them, despite seeing them on a daily basis so many times before.

Like it or not that would be a major, major incident and there is absolutely no way it would not be headline news Well, dingoatemybaby, it wasn't a major incident to anyone else, was it? No one else apart from my son, and us were affected, and even DS himself didn't have major injuries in the end. So why would anyone think it was newsworthy or interested in seeing it on the news?

Are people really saying that because it didn't make the news it can't be true? This is so true TheFirstMrsDV, I feel it is almost like being in an episode from Black Mirror. As if some people (a very small minority to be fair) expected me to take my phone out in the middle of the accident to start filming or taking pictures of what happened so I could send it to social media or the news?

Thank you for all the others that have had kind words and well wishes for my DS . It was helpful for me to read from other people experiences that even if it is soon forgotten by DS, it would be something that stays with me and that I am going to be further in shock for a while.

Thank you OP. I always hold on to my DC's hand on escalators but I was unaware of how dangerous they can be.

Your post was horrific. I hope you are all ok x

Just seen your update OP. You should not feel the need to justify your story further. You did not need to post as a warning to others but you have and the majority of posters salute you for that.

If a story is doubted there is a correct proceedure to follow. I don’t know what the ‘doubters’ are thinking, whether they enjoy being amateur sleuths or just trolls but if they are continuing to quiz you despite compelling evidence that you have provided then I suspect the latter & would suggest not engaging with them further.

Hope you feel better soon

Oneluckyescape.....just to add to what I have said previously about my own son's experience of this and breaking his foot....he no longer remembers it at all. He is 9 now and we mention it from time to time when on escalators as a reminder but he has literally no memory of it thankfully. My older sons who were with me at the time do remember. And I will always remember. It will begin to fade for you - the horror you feel now will diminish and you won't think about it most of the time until something reminds you. For me, that happened recently at a tube station where I saw the aftermath of a very similar accident and saw the child on the floor screaming. It brought everything back for me and I sobbed all the way home. But my son just laughed at me as it didn't even trigger a memory for him. So rest assured your child will forget quickly even if you never do.

A poster advised me to edit the hospital letter as the NHS / Hospital Number could be identifying. I asked MNHQ to remove the photo for me, and they said I could repost it without the identifying details. This is the last thing I will do to prove it, and I will follow ScarlettSahara's advice and not engage with the "doubters" any more.

In any case, I'm glad I managed to spread the word.

OP you were trying to raise awareness of the dangers, especially to young children, on escalators. I would like to restate my own experience of my buggy which was caught in between the steps at the steps levelled out towards the top. Please don’t take them on escalators - more luck than judgement that my DD was not harmed...& I only had to replace the buggy

I'm really glad you did spread the word oneluckyescape. Thank you. I'm sorry that there are some awful people on here. I'm glad you are going to try and ignore them now.

dd had a nasty accident a few years ago. I still feel sick when I think about it, have to remind myself that it's ok, she is fine now and that was in the past and horror isn't as it was closer to the time. Eventually this will become less immediate and raw for you, but it may be painful for a bit.

Oh god OP, that sounds awful, I'm relieved there's no lasting physical damage to your poor lad. Now I'm even more scared of escalators, I get wobbly legs every time I have to go on them.

I am a 44 year old (supposed) adult who cleans her shoes on the escalator brushes. It never occurred to me until I read this thread that this could happen. My kids are adults, but this is something I shall pass on to them too, and I shall clean my shoes myself in future.

Very good of OP to post. I have a 6” scar (faded but very noticeable) on my arm from a similar incident when I was a toddler, but on a flat airport travelator. It was broken in two places.

I grasp on to my DCs’ hands super-tightly when on escalators now, and sometimes show children my scar if I see them playing with them. Despite all that, I once had a long skirt nearly gobbled up by the ancient escalator at Queen’s Park tube, but managed to rip it free - they’re potentially lethal.

When I worked in retail I carried a walky-talky, there was someone hurt on escalators every day

Cantuccit

Some people try, but it is in the London underground Conditions of Carriage that if you cannot manage your belongings, then you cannot travel.

On a related note, I dealt with an accident on the escalator tonigh t- involving a poor dog! It was thankfully not too bad, but I could have slapped the owner for not picking the dog up!!!!

Late to this thread but my parents always used to warn me that this could happen. I was never quite sure if it was true as they were ones for saying things would 'have your eye out' etc but I've always been wary of staying away from the edges of escalators.
I don't think the signs help that say stand to the right or whatever as young kids take that literally and stand right against the brushes. There should be some kind of warning signs I think.

Or maybe the edges painted a different colour or something and it made clear how close you can stand. Trailing shoelaces are a hazard as well I believe.

The edges are normally painted yellow.

I’ve seen that on some but not all escalators Bertie. Usually older ones actually. Maybe newer ones are safer?

This terrifies me! DH always thinks I'm overreacting with my fear of escalators and over warn our DD's about them. Now though I never let him forget the day that he told me over and over that DD1 didn't need to hold my hand on the trolley escalators we have in our local supermarket. She ran up it, fell twice and her hair was almost sucked into the combs at the end. I went absolutely ballistic at him and her although he still hasn't learned his lesson. They're such dangerous things. I'll be sharing this story with him.