Third death fall focuses Dawlish sea wall safety review

Risk assessment to be published soon

Potential safety measures to protect people using the exposed sea wall at Dawlish are to go out for consultation in the autumn.

Network Rail is currently drawing up possible solutions for the wall, where a woman on a mobility scooter fell to her death at the weekend.

The safety review was originally prompted by the outcry following an earlier incident in which a teenage girl fell to her death in 2023. A teenager also died after falling from the wall the year before.

The death of the woman in her seventies on Saturday has turned the spotlight again on the structure which runs alongside the main railway line.

It runs from Dawlish to Dawlish Warren and is popular with walkers and runners, but has no lights or protective handrail. A painted line which is supposed to give users guidance along the wall has eroded away.

Network Rail was branded ‘irresponsible’ at a Teignbridge Council meeting to discuss the issue last year.

Fourteen-year-old Albina Yevko died in March last year after falling four metres off the unprotected edge onto concrete below. More than 500 people signed an online petition calling for safety measures.

Albina and her mother Inna had moved to the UK after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Last weekend’s incident happened around 2.30pm on Saturday in the Lady’s Mile area. The woman died at the scene.

Network Rail had earlier said it would be too expensive to install a safety railing but said a new risk assessment is being carried out. A handrail, it said, would be difficult to install and maintain.

Chairing a meeting of Teignbridge Council’s overview and scrutiny committee, Cllr Suzanne Sanders (Lib Dem, Chudleigh) said the most recent incident had had an impact on many local residents.

“Our thoughts are with all of them,” she said. “We really have to address this problem.”

She said Network Rail would be invited to meet councillors again to discuss the area.

Cllr John Parrott (Lib Dem, Kenn Valley) said the rail company had told a Devon Rail Forum meeting that a risk assessment covering the entire length of the wall would be published within eight weeks, and would be followed by a consultation with local councils.