Passenger claims she was injured when taxi collided with Luas tram

A woman who claims she was injured when a taxi collided with a Luas tram at a junction in Dublin has sued for damages in the High Court. 

 

Margaret Keating has sued the taxi driver, claiming he ran a red light and caused an emergency affecting the tram in which she was travelling. 

 

Opening the case on Tuesday, David McGrath SC, for Ms Keating, said she was sitting at the back of the tram and hit a support bar in the crash, which happened on the Luas Red Line at the junction of Stevens Hill approaching Heuston Station. 

 

Ms Keating, who has claimed she suffered injuries to her neck and shoulder, said in evidence she was “black and blue’ in her upper body afterwards. She said she has not been the same person since the crash. “It was like a switch going off in my head. I am not the same person since.” 

 

After the accident, she got off at the Jervis Street stop but was not feeling well and was helped by some people, she said. She got on a Luas home but got off at St James’s Hospital to attend the accident and emergency department there. 

 

Ms Keating (63), Bluebell Road, Bluebell, Dublin, has sued Martin Mulligan, Leixlip, Co Kildare, over the accident on June 15th, 2016. She claims the taxi driven by Mr Mulligan went through a red traffic light and collided with the Luas which was going through the junction on a green light. 

 

Travel anxiety 

She has claimed the taxi driver drove through the junction when there was a red light showing against him and failed to keep any, or any proper, lookout. She has also alleged, as a result of the collision, she has developed a travel anxiety and now has a fear of travelling on trams and trains. 

 

Mr Mulligan denies the claims and denies Ms Keating suffered injury as a result of the crash. 

 

Under cross examination by Bernard McDonagh SC, for Mr Mulligan, Ms Keating agreed she was not standing on the Luas at the time of the collision as had been pleaded in court documents. She also agreed she was not thrown to the ground. 

 

Referring to CCTV footage shown to the court, counsel put to Ms Keating she was not in distress as she exited the Luas carriage after the incident. Ms Keating said she was in pain, and had to sit down and was shaking when she got off the tram. 

 

‘Different person’ 

When counsel put to her that hospital X-rays showed she did not suffer any fractures, she said she wished she had broken a bone because that “could be fixed” and “I am not fixed”. Before the crash, she had gone back to college and got her life back but she got off the Luas a “different person”, she said. 

She agreed she had in 2002 settled an action in the UK for £400,000 over a slip and fall in 1996. The case continues on Wednesday before Mr Justice Kevin Cross.