News
Cancer patient's death after fall at station 'was wholly avoidable'
Lack of step-free access at Mill Hill Broadway station 'resulted in the untimely and tragic death of Priscilla Tropp' says MP
March 27, 2019 12:43
Lack of step-free access at Mill Hill Broadway station 'resulted in the untimely and tragic death of Priscilla Tropp' says MP
March 27, 2019 12:43The family of a cancer patient who died after falling down the stairs at Mill Hill Broadway station is sharing her story as part of a campaign for step-free access, as her MP said her death would have been "wholly avoidable" if the station had a lift.
Priscilla Tropp, a 76-year-old member of Edgware United Synagogue, died in November after she fell at the station while returning from Guy's Hospital for for treatment for her rare form of Leukaemia.
Her family said she would not have fallen, had there been a lift for her to use.
Hendon MP Matthew Offord shared the family’s story on Wednesday as an example of why step-free access was so “desperately needed.”
During a Westminster Hall debate on the issue, Mr Offord said: “The lack of step-free access at Mill Hill Broadway station resulted in the untimely and tragic death of Priscilla Tropp when she tripped and fell at the end of last year.
“This tragedy would have been wholly avoidable if there had been a lift.”
Speaking to the JC, an emotional Sara Sherrard, Mrs Tropp's daughter, said: “As a family we are devastated that we lost mummy due to a fall.
“Mill Hill Broadway, like many stations around the country, is not fit for purpose and her case highlights exactly why lifts are needed.
"Mum and dad were parked in a disabled bay at the station because of her illness. It is crazy that they don't have disabled access.
“She was one of thousands of people who need to use our transport system in order to access hospital treatment as an outpatient and the station let her down."
Mrs Sherrard said that her mother was using the station, which is used by more than two million passengers a year, twice a week for three weeks and every day for a week, during her treatment.
“She was determined to be independent, she was active despite her illness, and she wore it with amazing bravery and dignity.”
Mrs Sherrard added: “The NHS requires people to travel long distances to have treatment in centres of excellence everyday and the infrastructure tasked with getting them there is not adequate.”
She said the family had suffered a “great loss” and decided to share her story in the “hope that some good can be done in her memory.”
Mr Offord, who has been campaigning to get step-free access at the station since 2013, said he applied to the Department for Transport for funding to improve accessibility under the ‘Access for All’ programme, last year.
He told the JC: “I am grateful to Priscilla’s family for allowing her tragedy to highlight the long overdue and urgent need for step-free access at Mill Hill Broadway and I very much hope that funding will be awarded in the near future.”
Thameslink, which runs services at Mill Hill Broadway, said it sent its "heart-felt sympathies to Mrs Tropp's family," adding it shared "a long-held, keen desire to introduce step-free access" at the station.
A spokesperson said: "With the support of MP Matthew Offord, local councillors, the London Borough of Barnet, the rail user group and local lobbiests, we presented a very strong case to the Government's Access for All programme, which funds these and other schemes across the country.
"Mill Hill Broadway is advertised as a station with steps. If passengers request assistance then we will arrange a free taxi to nearby Elstree & Borehamwood station where lifts were installed five years ago."
