I misplaced my arm and leg falling down the hole on the tube and have requested to satisfy TfL and Sadiq Khan a number of instances – so why has he refused to satisfy me to express regret?

Two years ago on a rainy Friday, an exhausted woman in a bright pink raincoat tried in vain to get a taxi before deciding to get the Tube from her Liverpool Street office.

Sarah de Lagarde had worked late that night and needed to rush home to pack for a family holiday for her father’s birthday.

But she fell asleep and awoke at the end of the Northern Line at High Barnet station, eight miles past her stop to get home to Camden.

She got off, before noticing the train was returning back the same way and stepped backwards to get back on. But she slipped, and fell through the gap onto the tracks.

The fall broke her nose and her teeth, but the worst was yet to come. She desperately called for help, but no-one came and the train left the platform – bringing her right arm with it.

She managed to reach her phone but her face was so badly injured the face ID didn’t work and it was too wet from the rain for the touchscreen to function, so she again tried to shout for help.

But again, no-one came. And then a second train arrived, running over her right leg.

When she was eventually rescued, doctors had to amputate both her injured limbs and she now has bionic replacements due to a GoFundMe.

Mrs de Lagarde is now a campaigner for those injured on the Transport for London network.

She is suing the body because she believes ‘nothing has changed’ and TfL is avoiding accountability, requesting several times to meet with Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, only to be turned down.

This November, blind former Home Secretary David Blunkett also called for safety improvements at London Underground stations after he fell into a platform gap while boarding a train and needed hospital treatment.

Mrs de Lagarde told MailOnline she suffers from PTSD and can’t use the Underground, saying: ‘I will never step foot on the Tube again.’ 

She said: ‘If it wasn’t safe when I had four limbs, it definitely won’t be safe when I have two. Nothing has changed. 

‘My limbs won’t ever grow back but I’m doing this for my children, for the commuters in London.’

She said that TfL have denied accountability and her repeated requests for a meeting with the Mayor of London have been turned down.

‘It seems like TfL are above the law,’ she said sadly.

‘He apologises in the press when pressed, to the families of victims who died after being run over by buses. Where’s my apology? I’m still here. It takes public shaming.

‘My only option left is a lawsuit which could take years. It has the same symptoms as the Post Office scandal. But instead of targeted individuals, it’s disregarding the safety of all the commuters in London. Those who died don’t have a voice. 

‘My accident highlighted the dangers – for my daughters and London commuters.’

A few weeks before her accident, Mrs de Lagarde climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with her husband, which was a lifelong dream of hers.

Now 46, she managed the feat again this year – becoming the first woman with two prosthetics to reach the summit of the 5,900-metre peak.

But the mother-of-two says she and her family are still struggling to adapt to life as an amputee.

She said: ‘My day to day life has completely changed. I can’t drive, I can’t cook, I can’t work – I need help to do up a zip. Prosthetic limbs are so expensive – I was only able to afford mine through a crowdfunder. My life has been ruined. 

‘My children are taking care of me – I’m supposed to take care of them. They were 8 and 12 at the time. We’re still struggling as a family and trying to adapt as best we can.’

She has since launched legal action against TfL, arguing that a series of safety failings led her to remain on the tracks undetected by staff for 15 minutes despite her screams for help. 

The claim also questions whether TfL breached its own safety procedures and whether those procedures are fit for purpose.

She said ‘I believe that my accident could have been avoided altogether. TfL is using the ‘mind the gap’ announcement as a disclaimer. ‘We told you to mind the gap so this is your fault’ – It’s victim blaming and I’m not the only one who has experienced this. 

‘The first reaction is that this is your fault. They said I was intoxicated, that I was wearing the wrong type of footwear, that I’m a silly little woman who doesn’t know how to use the tube. I wasn’t drunk. What kind of footwear do you need to take the tube? 

‘Even if it was true, TfL markets the tube as a good way to get home after a night out, you know, don’t drink drive. 

‘The network seems to be designed for able-bodied, young, probably male people with long legs to get over the big gaps. 

‘There are lots of messages from TfL like ‘every journey matters’ but there’s no tangible proof of them improving things. They’re good at PR but not at change. 

‘TfL are public servants… It’s not acceptable. 

‘They say change is very costly and they will have to raise ticket prices. But they’re already funded by the tax payer, so we pay twice. Tickets are already some of the highest in the country. All the while the executives are getting pay bonuses. How is that fair? They have a duty of care. 

‘I’m an inconvenient truth for TfL because I survived and have a voice. But I shouldn’t have to do this. TfL asked me what I thought they should do. How should I know – I’m not an engineer.’

‘There is a cultural tendency to be above accountability.

‘They are failing in their core mission, to get people safely from A to B. Even the new Lizzie line – it’s not designed for elderly people with all the steps. 

‘Who thought about that? There was the 101 year old woman and a veteran who shattered his knee. They talk about inclusion but it’s not designed for that – it’s for the fit and able. 

‘They have a campaign with a woman with one arm tapping in with an oyster card. Personally I find that offensive, it’s disability washing. I lost my arm under their supervision. It’s misleading – only 33 per cent of the network is accessible. 

‘It adds insult to injury – I sustained these injuries on their network. Do they think the campaign is trendy? Who thought this way a good idea? It’s triggering.’

Nick Dent, Director of Customer Operations at London Underground, said: ‘TfL is responding to a legal claim which has been brought by solicitors on behalf of Sarah De Lagarde and I am not in a position to comment publicly further.

‘However, our thoughts continue to be with Sarah and her family following the devastating incident at High Barnet station and we have offered her direct support through the Sarah Hope Line.

‘Safety is our top priority and we continue to take every possible measure to learn from any incident and put in place appropriate improvements.’

Lord Blunkett, 77, needed hospital treatment for ‘excruciating pain’ in his legs and branded some platforms ‘death traps’ following his fall this year.

Writing in The Sun on Sunday, the Labour peer said he was getting on a District Line train with his guide dog at Westminster Tube when his feet slipped.

He said: ‘As I took a step to get on the train, I felt my feet disappearing down the gap.

‘In an instant my body had been propelled forward into the carriage and I was face- down on the floor. My legs had somehow been scraped out of the gap and into the carriage.’

‘I didn’t fully know what had happened. I felt enormous pain in both my legs; they were bruised and grazed,’ he continued.

Lord Blunkett’s fall came after a recent heart attack that means he must take blood thinners, which make any bruising or bleeding dangerous.

An X-ray confirmed ‘extraordinary bruising’ but no broken leg, and he says he is ‘angry’ about what happened.

‘Whenever you step into a tube station in London you hear the tannoy warn people to “mind the gap”. But too often there are no staff members to actually help you if, like me, you cannot see.’

He is calling for TfL to make efforts to fill the widest gaps on platforms and make sure there is always someone there to help, especially during rush hour.

‘Some of our platforms are death traps. The gap between the walkway and train is huge and they are unsafe for everyone, but particularly for blind people.’

He will soon meet TfL to ask for answers and an urgent review into the safety of the busiest tube stations.

Nick Dent, London Underground’s director of customer operations, said: ‘We were extremely sorry that Lord Blunkett was injured on our network.

‘We have written to, and will be meeting with, him to discuss how we could have managed the incident better and to ensure that lessons are learned.

‘The safety of our customers and staff is at the forefront of everything we do, and while injuries like the one experienced by Lord Blunkett are rare, we are undertaking a huge range of work aimed at eradicating such incidents and making travelling even safer for everyone.’