NSW: Man ploughed down by train sues SRA
By Denise McNamara
SYDNEY, April 22 AAP - A man who suffered horrific injuries when a Sydney train ploughedinto him is suing the NSW State Rail Authority claiming a faulty door allowed him to disembarkearly.
Jason Scott Prouse, a 34-year-old steel fixer from Tuggerah, has no memory of the accidenton November 15, 1991, which led to his left arm and left leg being amputated.
His barrister, Russell McIlwaine, SC, told the NSW Supreme Court a passenger had complainedbefore the incident that one of the carriage doors on train 187 could be manually opened.
There was other evidence that passengers had opened the doors and they had remainedopen for much of the journey, he said.
"It would seem apparent there was something horribly wrong with the way the doors wereoperating on this particular carriage this evening," Mr McIlwaine said.
When train 187 pulled into Sydney at around 5pm, stopping at a signal about 500 metresshort of the station, a group of young men got out and crossed over to the Newcastle platform.
A guard on oncoming train 192 saw the group and blew a whistle but did not stop, thecourt was told.
When another group, which included Mr Prouse, disembarked and made for the same platform,again the guard on train 192 saw the passengers on the tracks.
"When (the guard) saw the second group ... he blew the whistle again and didn't applybrakes until he had run over the plaintiff," Mr McIlwaine said.
Mr Prouse is suing for damages of more than $750,000, claiming the NSW State Rail Authoritywas negligent by failing to address the clearly defective doors.
If train 192 had stopped, the accident would never have occurred, the court was told.
Mr McIlwaine would also argue that a guard on train 187 should have made a generalbroadcast advising train 192 to stop.
A father of two who was unemployed nine months before the accident, Mr Prouse now suffersincontinence and severe sweating problems.
"It took away everything from me, my life, my soul, my way of life to create a livingfor my family," he told the court.
The hearing before Acting Justice Peter Newman continues.
AAP dmc/arb/ldj/sb
KEYWORD: PROUSE
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