A teenage football fan commuting to work was among at least seven people killed in Britain’s worst tram tragedy in a century.
Dane Chinnery, 19, of New Addington, died when the speeding tram derailed on a tight bend in Croydon.
A young child is also thought to be among the victims and more than 50 other people were injured.
Passengers described the scene as “absolute carnage”, with injured and bleeding travellers thrown on top of each other. There were fears yesterday that the death toll could rise.
The driver, a 42-year-old man from Beckenham, has been released on bail until May after being arrested and questioned by police on suspicion of manslaughter.
Officers are investigating whether he fell asleep at the controls. He reportedly told one passenger he might have “blacked out”.
The packed two-car tram was heading to East Croydon when it overturned near Sandilands station at 6.10am yesterday. Rail investigators believe it was travelling at a “significantly higher speed” than the 12mph restriction on the bend. The trams can reach speeds of about 50mph.
Chinnery, a Crystal Palace fan, was on his way to work at flood response firm Hydro Cleansing in Croydon. Chef Tom Dale, 20, was also on the tram and recalled nodding to Chinnery, a friend from their days at Addington High School, when he boarded.
After the crash, Dale looked for him but all he could see was Chinnery’s boot where he had been sitting. “It was like walking out of a war zone,” he said. “He was just a friendly, genuine lad, did no harm to nobody really. No one deserves for this to happen to them.”
A former girlfriend, 19, told the Standard: “Dane was my first-ever boyfriend and the only boyfriend I’ve had. He’d always manage to put a smile on my face. He loved his family and friends more than anything. I don’t think I ever saw him angry or upset, he was lovely. I’ve known him for eight years... I’m heartbroken.”
Devastated friends called on Crystal Palace to arrange a minute’s applause at their next home match. One wrote: “He was red, white and blue all the way through, and simply loved Palace.”
A friend told the Standard: “Everyone is heartbroken. He went to go to work and didn’t come home.”
Twenty casualties, including four with serious injuries, were taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting. Sixteen with minor injuries and one of the four more seriously injured had been discharged by last night. Croydon University Hospital treated 38 people.
Passenger Kevin Snow, 57, a Royal Navy veteran and father of seven from Barnsley, said: “Everyone was screaming and shouting, a lot of people were injured — lots couldn’t move.”