Guard Jailed for death of girl on train platform

[Mark TKO]

Seen this on news.

Train guard Christopher McGee jailed for 5 years over rail tragedy of drunk teenager Georgia Varley | Metro.co.uk

Now I don't know the ins and outs of the case and yes it is a horrible tragedy but to put the guard away for five years- fuck me ! What is this country coming to with blame culture - we always look for someone to carry the can.

She was underage , pissed and been taking drugs FFS.

If the guard did make a mistake, which the jusry think he did, he will have to live with it for rest of his life. If you jailed everyone who made a mistake in their jobs then there's be about 3 people left living free FFS - that's top end.

Doctors and nurses always cop it - I know people in the medical game wanting to leave it cos of the fact they worry so much about making a mistake and the consequences these days - so now we are starting on train guards.

Tragedy - but this is so wrong

[Mark TKO]

You ignorant set of Cunts

Fuck you

[Saddo]

yrah seen this on the news yesterday and thought the self same thing.... its a joke, sad that she died but to put all the blame on the guard is madness ?!!?!

[Gandalf]

That is appalling. She was responsible for her own actions. She shouldn't have been leaning on a train. How you can make the guard culpable for a drug addled drunk person is beyond my comprehension.

Utter bullshit.

[ryanman]

There is more to this than that story shows.

Of course the girl has a responsibility and at first glance it's difficult to see how the guard can be blamed. The reason why (you may still disagree with the conviction) is that the guard was fully aware that the young girl was drunk and that she was leaning on the train. Knowing this he signalled for the train to move away. The movement of the train caused her to fall between the gap.
Yes she was drunk, but that doesn't remove his duty of care as the train guard. She was knocking on the glass to get back on as she had mistakenly gotten off. He assumed that although she was leaning on the train she would move away if it started to move off. He was wrong in that assumption and it cost her her life. I think that qualifies as gross negligence. And gross negligence that results in death is manslaughter.

Also, if people weren't held to account for mistakes or bad practices in work we would still be in the days of scores of men being chewed up in factory machinery with no accountability.

[ryanman]

A drunk girl stumbles into the road in front of a bus. The driver sees her but continues to drive assuming she will move out the way. She does not move. The bus hits and kills her. He did not intend to kill or harm her.

I don't think the sentence would seem so harsh in those circumstances. The two scenarios are not too dissimilar.

[Mark TKO]

regardless - jailing him achieves what exactly ?

who'd served her the alcohol ? provided the drugs ?

They as much to blame so send them down too if we going to nail the guilty parties we want to blame

A tragedy of circumstances unfortunately

[ryanman]

regardless - jailing him achieves what exactly ?

who'd served her the alcohol ? provided the drugs ?

They as much to blame so send them down too if we going to nail the guilty parties we want to blame

A tragedy of circumstances unfortunately

Yeah I do agree. It's a tragic set of circumstances and I don't think his actions deserve 5 years. Nor is he the only person to blame. But the law doesn't always work like that (and for good reasons).
It's similar to how I feel when somebody gets sent down for manslaughter when they kill someone with one punch (for instance in terms of a fight in a pub with both throwing punches. Not an unprovoked attack). They could never expect or hope to kill someone by throwing one punch in the midst of a fight but if it leads to someones death then they are responsible for that death.

[Fenster]

I don't think it matters that she was drunk.

He let the train move with someone leaning against it. A perfectly sober person could have been dragged under too

[Gandalf]

There is more to this than that story shows.

Of course the girl has a responsibility and at first glance it's difficult to see how the guard can be blamed. The reason why (you may still disagree with the conviction) is that the guard was fully aware that the young girl was drunk and that she was leaning on the train. Knowing this he signalled for the train to move away. The movement of the train caused her to fall between the gap.
Yes she was drunk, but that doesn't remove his duty of care as the train guard. She was knocking on the glass to get back on as she had mistakenly gotten off. He assumed that although she was leaning on the train she would move away if it started to move off. He was wrong in that assumption and it cost her her life. I think that qualifies as gross negligence. And gross negligence that results in death is manslaughter.

Also, if people weren't held to account for mistakes or bad practices in work we would still be in the days of scores of men being chewed up in factory machinery with no accountability.

What kind of person leans on a moving train though? It's just a stupid thing to do. Her getting off at the wrong station is her fault alone. Her leaning on the train is her fault alone. I mean really, who ever leans on a train? Obviously a very stupid girl.

It doesn't seem right that a man is in for manslaughter because a drunk and drugged imbecile didn't have the sense to stand on her own two feet without using a train as support. Her death is shocking and awful, but putting this man away for several years is extremely harsh.

Let's say I get drunk tonight and jump in front of a car. I would deserve the death that I get and no way should the driver go to prison for it. The girl essentially commited suicide.

[Gandalf]

I don't think it matters that she was drunk.

He let the train move with someone leaning against it. A perfectly sober person could have been dragged under too

Nobody should ever be leaning on a train. A sober person leaning on a train would deserve an equal fate.

[ryanman]

There is more to this than that story shows.

Of course the girl has a responsibility and at first glance it's difficult to see how the guard can be blamed. The reason why (you may still disagree with the conviction) is that the guard was fully aware that the young girl was drunk and that she was leaning on the train. Knowing this he signalled for the train to move away. The movement of the train caused her to fall between the gap.
Yes she was drunk, but that doesn't remove his duty of care as the train guard. She was knocking on the glass to get back on as she had mistakenly gotten off. He assumed that although she was leaning on the train she would move away if it started to move off. He was wrong in that assumption and it cost her her life. I think that qualifies as gross negligence. And gross negligence that results in death is manslaughter.

Also, if people weren't held to account for mistakes or bad practices in work we would still be in the days of scores of men being chewed up in factory machinery with no accountability.

What kind of person leans on a moving train though? It's just a stupid thing to do. Her getting off at the wrong station is her fault alone. Her leaning on the train is her fault alone. I mean really, who ever leans on a train? Obviously a very stupid girl.

It doesn't seem right that a man is in for manslaughter because a drunk and drugged imbecile didn't have the sense to stand on her own two feet without using a train as support. Her death is shocking and awful, but putting this man away for several years is extremely harsh.

Let's say I get drunk tonight and jump in front of a car. I would deserve the death that I get and no way should the driver go to prison for it. The girl essentially commited suicide.

Take your car example but change it slightly to say that the driver saw you and could have stopped if they had wanted to but assumed you would get out of the way and so carried on driving, smashed into you and killed you. Sure, you would shoulder a large proportion of blame, but there is no way that the car driver would be blameless. It is essentially the same.

Also Miles, how old were you when you first got legless? Under 18 I would guess, as with most of us. Don't judge her for being drunk. It is relevent to the circumstances I understand but it isn't a relevent factor in judging her character.

[Fenster]

I don't think it matters that she was drunk.

He let the train move with someone leaning against it. A perfectly sober person could have been dragged under too

Nobody should ever be leaning on a train. A sober person leaning on a train would deserve an equal fate.

Yeah and no one in control of a train should ever let it move with someone leaning on it.

His risk cost someone their life.

Of course he should be severly punished.

[Conrad]

I don't think it matters that she was drunk.

He let the train move with someone leaning against it. A perfectly sober person could have been dragged under too

Nobody should ever be leaning on a train. A sober person leaning on a train would deserve an equal fate.

Yeah and no one in control of a train should ever let it move with someone leaning on it.

His risk cost someone their life.

Of course he should be severly punished.

I agree.

It's his job to make sure nobody is close to the train before it leaves, he didn't do his job. All he had to do was wait or ask her to move and she'd still be alive. 5 years seems harsh but dying at 16 is worse...

[Gandalf]

There is more to this than that story shows.

Of course the girl has a responsibility and at first glance it's difficult to see how the guard can be blamed. The reason why (you may still disagree with the conviction) is that the guard was fully aware that the young girl was drunk and that she was leaning on the train. Knowing this he signalled for the train to move away. The movement of the train caused her to fall between the gap.
Yes she was drunk, but that doesn't remove his duty of care as the train guard. She was knocking on the glass to get back on as she had mistakenly gotten off. He assumed that although she was leaning on the train she would move away if it started to move off. He was wrong in that assumption and it cost her her life. I think that qualifies as gross negligence. And gross negligence that results in death is manslaughter.

Also, if people weren't held to account for mistakes or bad practices in work we would still be in the days of scores of men being chewed up in factory machinery with no accountability.

What kind of person leans on a moving train though? It's just a stupid thing to do. Her getting off at the wrong station is her fault alone. Her leaning on the train is her fault alone. I mean really, who ever leans on a train? Obviously a very stupid girl.

It doesn't seem right that a man is in for manslaughter because a drunk and drugged imbecile didn't have the sense to stand on her own two feet without using a train as support. Her death is shocking and awful, but putting this man away for several years is extremely harsh.

Let's say I get drunk tonight and jump in front of a car. I would deserve the death that I get and no way should the driver go to prison for it. The girl essentially commited suicide.

Take you car example but change it slightly to say that the driver saw you and could have stopped if they had wanted to but assumed you would get out of the way and so carried on driving, smashed into you and killed you. Sure, you would shoulder a large proportion of blame, but there is no way that the car driver would be blameless. It is essentially the same.

Also Miles, how old were you when you first got legless? Under 18 I would guess, as with most of us. Don't judge her for being drunk. It is relevent to the circumstances I understand but it isn't a relevent factor in judging her character.

Let's say some drunk is leaning on my car and I just drive off and they fall to the ground or even hit their head and die. I really wouldn't have much sympathy and would be annoyed if I was sent to prison. You shouldn't be leaning on vehicles and especially a train. You don't lean and you don't cross the line. You have to control your own behaviour.

I first got drunk when I was 16, but I seldom recall ever leaning on any transportation. There is nothing wrong with being drunk, but there is with leaning on trains. Nobody leans on a train and falls onto the tracks. It is daft and thus she was a bit stupid.