My son suffered 25,000-volt electric shock and is scarred for life after climbing onto railway line to collect a lost football
Mum Siobhan Hubbard taught her son how dangerous trains were... so why did he climb on one?
WHEN mum-of-two Siobhan Hubbard, from Rugby, Warwickshire, was told that her youngest child Tom had been hurt on the railway track yards from their home she rushed to the scene - not knowing if he was even alive.
There, she learnt that - after deciding to climb a parked train – Tom had been electrocuted by more than 25,000 volts.
He had suffered severe burns all over his body, was put into an induced coma and the doctors told Siobhan to prepare herself for the worst.
After numerous skin grafts and physiotherapy, Tom pulled through.
Now, four years on from the incident, he is still trying to return his life to that of a typical 20-year-old.
Siobhan has shared her story.
I often look back on that night and think if there was anything I could have done or said that could have stopped him.
As a parent you think you have taught your kids about how roads, bridges and railways are dangerous places to hang out.
I never thought that my 16-year-old son would have done anything that would put his life at risk.
Tom had just finished his GCSEs and gone out after dinner with his friends to play football.
I was downstairs tidying up when my daughter Katie came running down the stairs shouting for me.
She could barely get the words out, but said Tom’s friend James* had just called saying Tom had been hurt on the tracks, and they thought he had been electrocuted.
I couldn’t process what was happening. Why was he on the railway? They went to play football? How could he have been electrocuted?
The scene when I arrived at the train track is something that no mother should have to see.
Tom was lying on top of the train with about 10 people working on him.
I was told to stand behind the fence. I felt so far away and helpless and wished that I could be next to him to tell him it would all be OK.
But in that moment we had no idea if he would be.
Tom’s friends, James and Mitchell, were too shell-shocked to say anything about what had happened.
It was only when the ambulance crew managed to get him off the roof of the train that I was told the full story.
Tom had jumped the fence to get the football back and had gone across the tracks to climb on top of a train, where he had been electrocuted.
Though he hadn’t touched the overhead wires directly, the electricity had jumped. Thinking my boy had been hit by over 25,000 volts, was heartbreaking.
I had no idea how he could survive such an ordeal.
When we arrived at the hospital I thought they were going to tell me he was dead but the doctors told us that he was alive and going to have to be put into an induced coma so his body could have a chance of recovering from his injuries.
The doctor explained he may not pull through and this could happen at any moment.
Those few weeks I lived on edge everyday thinking I was going to get that awful call that he had died.
It was three weeks before Tom was awake and able to talk. His face was the size of a football from where it was swollen and burnt. Tom’s identifiable big mop of auburn hair had been singed and blacked.
They had to shave his head, so they could use skin off his head for skin grafts on his badly burnt body. That broke my heart. It just didn’t look like my little boy.
Over the few months Tom had to endure numerous skin grafts to repair his arm, leg, neck and torso, followed by three years of painful physio to help mobilise the restrictions in his movement that the scarring was causing.
It was a really tough summer for all of us.
Travelling to Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital every day from our home in Rugby was both emotionally and financially draining.
However we knew he would only get through this ordeal with our support, so we all tried to be strong and be there for him whenever we could.
Four years on Tom is still affected by the events of that day, both physically and mentally.
He was always quiet shy and introverted but now he is more reserved and guarded.
He stays in during the day a lot and will wear long-sleeved tops to hide his scars, even in the summer heat.
I did eventually find out more about what really happened that night and how they had all been egging each other on to cross the tracks and climb the train.
Tragedy of 16-year-old girl electrocuted on train tracks after night out with pals
Last week an inquest ruled that Taiyah Peebles, 16, died accidentally after being electrocuted on a railway line in Herne Bay, Kent.
Taiyah died on July 25, 2017. A post-mortem suggested she had been electrocuted after touching a 750-volt live rail shortly after she got off a train and would have died instantly
After the inquest Taiyah's mum Hayley said she want railway stations to be made safer.
Speaking in tribute to her daughter, Hayley said: “ She loved to be out with her friends. She loved spending time with her sisters and nieces.
“She lived every day of her life like it was the last.
“I am just flabbergasted at the amount of deaths which have happened on the railway and nothing is done,” she said.
“I am not going to let Taiyah become just another statistic."
As a mother you do everything you can to protect your children. But what seemed like innocent fun will impact Tom for the rest of his life.
It may sound like something your children would never do, but warning them about the dangers of the railway is vital.
I don’t think young people realise the dangers and think the electricity is turned off when trains aren’t coming, or that if they look first they will be okay, even though trains can run at 140mph and can’t stop quickly.
There are so many hidden dangers.
I do get upset sometimes thinking that son is now scarred for life and it was all for the sake of having a laugh with his mates.
The message for anyone who goes on the railway is clear. It’s not a playground or a short cut - you are on the railway, you are on dangerous ground.
Tom says:
I knew crossing the track to the train could get me in trouble, but I don’t think it crossed my mind that it was dangerous, as there were no trains coming.
I crossed the tracks and felt a rush as I pulled myself up in between the two carriages of the train and then onto the roof.
As I began to run along the roof of the train, I was instantly knocked off my feet.
What happened next is still a bit of a blur. I felt like I had been hit by lightning and all I saw was red.
I don’t know how long I was out for, but when I came round I was lying on my back on top of the train.
I could hear the boys shouting and the voice of a man telling them to get off the track, as it was live and they could be hurt.
As the man’s voice grew louder and closer, I turned my head and spotted that he was wearing an orange uniform.
He tried to reassure me that help was on the way, but they needed to switch the line off so the ambulance crew and police could come over.
As I lay there, I realised I didn’t have any feeling in my left arm and right leg and had an overwhelming feeling of being freezing cold.
All that was going through my mind was how annoyed mum was going to be, but I knew that receiving a call from James* was going to upset and disappoint her.
When the ambulance finally manged to get me down from the top of the train, I spotted my family behind the fence and I could see that they were clearly very upset, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying as I was so disorientated by the medication.
I woke up 11 days later in the burns unit at Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital, wrapped from head to toe in bandages, heavily medicated and unable to string a sentence together.
I couldn’t work out what was real and what wasn’t. When the doctors came to speak to me a few days later that the true extent of what had happened finally hit me.
I found out that I had been electrocuted on top of that train and although I hadn’t touched the wire, they explained that electricity can ark and reach out up to three metres.
The line had sent over 25,000 volts through my body. They explained how lucky I was to be alive, but it was going to be a long road to recovery.
My arm and leg had taken the full force of the electricity, but in doing so had set my t-shirt on fire, resulting in severe burns across my torso neck and arms.
Seeing mum cry was awful and there were times I got upset and knew that my body wasn’t going to look the same again.
- Siobhan and Tom are backing Network Rail's , which aims to highlight the hidden dangers of the railway to young people and the risks they are taking by venturing onto the track.
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