'Extraordinary and humbling': Heroes praised for Stonehaven crash response

An off-duty conductor and a police officer have been praised for their courage after trying to save lives in the Stonehaven train tragedy.

Emergency services at the scene near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, following the derailment of the ScotRail train which cost the lives of three people. Ben Birchall/PA Wire

The conductor, who was one of 12 people on board the train, managed to free himself from the wreckage, which later went on fire, before walking a mile up the track to the nearest signal box in order to raise the alarm and close the line down on Wednesday morning.

As emergency services scrambled, PC Liam Mercer, from Stonehaven Police Staton, was the first on the scene deep in a wooded area and ran towards the train before pulling people from the wreckage.

Three people died in the tragedy with train driver Brett McCullough , conductor Donald Dinnie and a passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, killed on the 6.38am Aberdeen to Glasgow service.

Scotland’s Transport Secretary Michael Matheson, who visited Stonehaven to meet with emergency services on Thursday morning, said he had been “humbled” by the response of those dealing with the immediate aftermath of the incident, which is believed to have been caused by a landslip following a night of torrential rain and thunder storms.

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson praised the "dedication and courage" of the crew member who walked to raise the alarm.

Mr Matheson, who was in Stonehaven this morning to meet with emergency crews who attended the scene, said: "The crew member was able to go to the signal box which then allowed the national control centre to close the line.

"It just demonstrates the courage and the determination they had to try and deal with the incident as effectively as possible.

"I have already highlighted how I have been quite literally humbled in the way our emergency response team have dealt with this issue, which includes Network Rail engineers over the course of the last 24 hours.

"The absolutely outstanding actions of this member of staff just demonstrates this dedication."

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps took a helicopter trip over the crash site at Carmont, around five miles inland from Stonehaven, to view the wreckage on Thursday morning.

He said: “I had seen the photographs and the pictures but to see it yourself first hand absolutely brings it home. It takes you back. My thoughts immediately went to the friends and family of those who lost their lives yesterday and those half a dozen people who were injured on the train. Thank goodness there were not more people.”

Mr Shapps met with PC Mercer to hear of his experience at the crash site.

Mr Shapps said: “He said his training kicked in. He hadn’t seen anything like this before for real but he had trained for it. He clearly didn’t hesitate and got involved straight away and started helping people to get out of the train.”

He described the officer’s actions as “extraordinary and humbling” .

Mr Shapps said: “I have been in politics for a while I have never had a conversaon like that before with someone who was there immediately on the scene.

"What he must have been able to see was a terrible incident turn into a tragedy and not to flinch and get on with his job was extraordinary.”

Six other passengers were taken to hospital following the incident although their condition is not believed to be serious. Four firefighters were also injured with two receiving hospital treatment.

The passenger count on the early morning service is likely to have been far lower than normal for the given the travel restrictions imposed on Aberdeen residents given the Covid-19 outbreak.

The train left Aberdeen bound for Glasgow at 6.38 am with Police Scotland not alerted to the derailment until 9.43am. A member of the public, believed to be a farmer working close to the scene, is also believed to have phoned emergency services.

What happened in the three hour gap is now subject to a multi-agency review although it is known that the train came off the tracks as it attempted to head back towards Aberdeen after moving from the southbound to the northbound track.

Mr Matheson said the bad weather conditions were likely to have played a part in the tragedy.

Stonehaven was hit by widespread flooding on Wednesday morning, with emergency services dealing with a number of incidents, including fires caused by lightning strikes, when news of the derailment came through.

Mr Matheson said: "What I think we can assess, though, is that weather has had an impact.

"We are seeing increasingly a higher level of what are localised intense weather events that are having an impact on the transport network, including the rail network.

"What we need to do as part of the investigation is identify to what extent it had an impact and also to see what lessons can be learned."

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