Transport for London has been fined £2million following the death of retired nurse Grace Mecaley, who was struck by a double-decker bus at Walthamstow Bus Station in December 2023.
At Westminster Magistrates' Court on 25th September, the judge found that TfL had failed to ensure pedestrians and vehicles could move safely through the station for nearly two decades.
Grace, 74, was crossing at the station's northern crossing at around 5pm on 15th December 2023 when a 212 bus rounded the corner and hit her. She suffered catastrophic head injuries and died at the scene. She had been returning home after shopping on Walthamstow High Street.
The court heard that the position of the crossing and the angle at which buses approached it created blind spots, preventing drivers from seeing the full length of the crossing. The design created what the court described as "ambiguity" over right of way, and increased the risk of a collision.
TfL did not carry out a risk assessment after a similar pedestrian incident at the station in April 2022. CCTV footage captured five near misses in the two days before Grace's death.
Judge Robinson identified three areas in which TfL fell "far below" the required standard: failing to make changes after the April 2022 incident, neglecting safety improvements over nearly 20 years, and maintaining "generic and inadequate" risk management systems between January 2004 and December 2023.
A representative of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said TfL had "missed an opportunity" to improve safety after the 2022 incident, because investigations focused on the culpability of the driver rather than on improvements to the design of the site.
"A safer crossing for pedestrians was always possible [between January 2004 and December 2023] but TfL failed in this regard," the judge said.
An original fine of £3million was reduced to £2million to reflect TfL's guilty plea. Judge Robinson added: "No fine could ever lessen the loss or reflect the tragedy and grief experienced by Grace's family and friends."
TfL must pay the fine and £5,081 in legal costs within one month. The amount reflected TfL's status as a public body; a private company with a similar turnover could have faced a fine of around £50million for comparable failings.
Grace's son, Don Mecaley, said his mother's death had caused him "significant emotional distress", describing it as "the most traumatic experience of my life". He said questions remained unanswered, adding: "The lack of closure has made it more difficult to move forward. Her death has created an absence that cannot be replaced and I want appropriate accountability to follow."
Permanent pedestrian crossings were installed on the northern and western sides of the station in December 2024. Temporary signals had been added in May 2024, after the HSE served a contravention notice in March that year. A further contravention notice was issued in March 2025, after inspectors found bus drivers were failing to give priority to pedestrians crossing to the central island.
HSE inspector Laurence Goodacre said: "Grace was simply walking home after shopping when she was struck and killed while using an authorised pedestrian crossing. TfL had a responsibility to keep pedestrians safe, but its failings meant Grace never made it home."
The sentencing came in the same week as another collision between a bus and a pedestrian at the station's southern crossing in Selborne Road.
Lorna Murphy, TfL's director of buses, said the organisation remains committed to safety at bus stations through its Vision Zero and Bus Safety Programme work, which she said combines "operational controls, infrastructure measures and operator assurance to reduce risk to customers, pedestrians and staff".
