On This Day in 1991, Cannon Street Train Crash
On 8 January 1991, during the morning rush hour, a packed commuter train failed to stop at the end of its journey and collided with the buffer stops at Cannon Street station in the City of London. The stopping service had departed from Sevenoaks in Kent at 07:58 and, after taking on passengers at London Bridge, was carrying more than 800 people when it reached the terminus at about 08:44. The impact occurred at an estimated speed of around 10 mph as the train struck the hydraulic buffers that mark the end of the platform.
The train was formed of ten cars made up of elderly electric multiple units operated by Network SouthEast, specifically Class 415 and Class 416 vehicles numbered 5618, 5484 and 6227. These units had been introduced decades earlier and were typical of the older rolling stock in use at the time on suburban commuter services. The fifth and sixth carriages bore the worst of the collision damage, crushing into each other and lifting one coach partly off the tracks.
Two passengers lost their lives as a result of the crash. A 24‑year‑old man, later named in reports as Martin Strivens, suffered serious crushing injuries and died from a heart attack on the way to hospital after being cut free from the wreckage. A 59‑year‑old woman, identified as Patricia McCay in detailed accounts of the incident, died three days later from injuries sustained in the collision. In addition to the fatalities, 542 passengers were recorded as injured, many of whom were hurt after standing up in anticipation of the train’s arrival into the station.
Emergency services responded quickly to the scene beneath the Victorian iron and glass roof of Cannon Street station. Fire crews, ambulance teams and police worked to free passengers trapped in the damaged carriages, treat the wounded and manage the complex task of clearing the wreckage from one of the busiest commuter terminals in London. Platforms at the station were partially closed while the response and recovery operation took place, with most tracks reopened later that day and the damaged platform restored in the following week.
An official inquiry into the accident was carried out by Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate, which found no fault in the train’s braking or traction systems and placed the cause of the collision on driver error. The driver, Maurice Graham, was not tested for drugs until three days after the crash, at which point traces of cannabis were found in his system. The inquiry concluded there was insufficient evidence to determine that drug use was a cause of the accident.
The public inquiry report also noted that the age and design of the rolling stock increased the severity of the injuries, with the lack of modern crashworthy features contributing to the telescoping of the carriages. It made a number of safety recommendations, including the installation of Automatic Train Protection, the use of on‑train data recorders to assist investigations, revised arrangements for staff booking‑on, and changes to make it an offence for railway staff with safety responsibilities to be intoxicated while on duty. These recommendations reflected broader concerns about rail safety and the need to reduce the risk of buffer‑stop collisions in the future.