A WOMAN who came to the aid of a seriously injured man who had fallen between a train and a platform is demanding answers from transport chiefs over why station staff failed to render assistance.
The man required ambulance attention after he fell and hit his head on the carriage floor while boarding at Footscray Station on Saturday about 8:10pm.
His fall left him dazed and dangling half in and out of the carriage.
Passenger Gemma Houston, a healthcare physiologist, acted quickly to press the train’s emergency button and, with the help of others, pulled the injured man into the carriage in case the train took off.
But she has complained that Metro station staff were reluctant to get involved, leaving it up to fellow passengers to manage the medical emergency – including calling for an ambulance – as an impatient and hostile crowd on the platform grew.
Ms Houston said staff retreated behind their ticket windows, failed to keep onlookers at bay, failed to provide any privacy to the injured man, compounded the situation by announcing the delayed train would soon leave (thereby drawing a more passengers to the scene), failed to provide first aid and failed to direct paramedics to the patient.
“To say I am disgusted and appalled by this incompetence and lack of humanity is an understatement,” Ms Houston said in a written complaint to Premier Ted Baillieu, transport minister Terry Mulder and Metro Trains chief executive Andrew Lezala.
“Why was I, as a lone female member of the public, left to direct passengers while staff hid behind their perspex ticket and office windows while passengers became more confused, frustrated and angry?”
Ms Houston said it was left to Good Samaritan passengers to manage the scene.
Two doctors, who happened to be on board, assessed the man.
They decided that an ambulance would be needed and that the man should not be moved from the carriage — holding up the train.
An ambulance spokesman confirmed a crew attended at about 8.15pm. As they administered treatment, officers called police because bystanders were “getting a bit aggressive,” the spokesman said.
A government spokesperson said Transport Minister Terry Mulder would seek information from Metro Trains about the incident.
A Metro Trains spokesperson said the company would investigate the incident and that it was “committed to ensuring the safety of customers and staff at all times”.
