Woman loses appeal after blaming Metro for safety door injury

The Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People's Court has rejected an appeal made by a woman against the local Metro operator after she tried to get on a Metro train when the doors were closing and received an injury to her head, the court said Wednesday.

According to the court, on June 6 last year the woman, surnamed Ge, wanted to take Metro Line 8 at People's Square Station and attempted to dash into a train while the doors were closing at about 4pm. Her head became stuck between the platform screen doors and she was injured.

Surveillance video showed that the platform screen doors began closing as Ge was trying to get on the train and other passengers had stepped back to wait for the next one. A cellphone video Ge provided also showed that the buzzer sounded several times and then the doors closed.

However, Ge said she didn't hear it and brought the Metro operator to court, demanding compensation of more than 12,000 yuan (US$1,797) for medical fees and food costs during her hospitalization.

Her demand was rejected by the court of first instance. The court said the indicator light above the platform screen doors was in proper working order when the incident happened and that there are security warning marks posted on the doors. 

Although Ge said she didn't hear the warning sound, the buzzer was operational and the other passengers waiting outside all stepped back. Therefore Ge didn't have adequate backing to prove that the Metro operator failed to fulfill its duty.

Ge was not satisfied with the result and made an appeal to the Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People's Court.

During the hearing, Ge said the Metro operator should be blamed for her injury because the warning lights on the doors remained on and didn't flash to warn passengers that the door was closing.