[Above: Ms Samantha Ann Francis (2nd from right), who is a content producer at citizen journalism website Stomp, speaking to SMRT staff at Lakeside MRT about the open train door shown in her photo (inset).]
A picture posted Wednesday on citizen journalism website Stomp shows one of its carriage doors wide open.
Train operator SMRT has refuted the presence of a passenger who had taken a picture of one of its train's carriage doors left open while it was travelling, saying that she was never there in the first place.
Ms Samantha Ann Francis, 23, a content producer with citizen journalism website Stomp, had uploaded a photo on Wednesday morning showing one of the train doors wide open.
She claimed that the train was travelling despite the open door and only closed when it reached the next stop at Chinese Garden.
Ms Samantha Ann Francis had boarded the train at 10.15pm on Tuesday night. She told The Straits Times that after the train stopped at the station, the doors on the opposite side to the platform opened first. She then took a picture through the closed doors in front of her. When the doors in front of her opened, she entered the train and took another picture of the opposite doors, one of which remained open until the train stopped at the next stop at Chinese Garden.
Ms Samantha Ann Francis said a Chinese man in T-shirt and bermudas and an Indian man were in the same carriage as her.
Yesterday, she met with SMRT staff at Lakeside MRT to assist in their investigations. She showed them where she was standing when she took the photo and described what she was wearing that night to help SMRT identify her in CCTV footage.
Samantha Ann Francis MORE FAKE PHOTOS
When asked by SMRT staff if her current ez-link card was the one used that night, Ms Samantha Ann Francis answered yes.
However, SMRT told The Straits Times in a statement on Thursday that Ms Samantha Ann Francis was not present at Lakeside MRT.
"We thank (Ms Samantha Ann Francis) for coming forward today to assist us with our investigations. We are checking a few more things, as from our records (CCTV footage and ez-link card trip details), she was not at Lakeside MRT station on 19 June," said the statement.
It added that its trains will not be able to move if the doors are not closed properly and that the railings in her picture do not match those at Lakeside MRT.
"We wish to reassure commuters that the MRT system is built with many fail-safe features to ensure passenger safety", said the company.
Stomp editor Azhar Kasman confirmed yesterday that the photos of the incident were submitted by a Stomp content producer.
"We have verified the details with her and she stands by her account of the incident," said Mr Kasman, in response to claims that Ms Samantha Ann Francis was never at the station.
Stomp staff sacked over false 'MRT open door photo'
A photograph of an MRT train moving with one set of its doors open, has been found to be false.
A content producer of Singapore's citizen journalism website Stomp had initially claimed that she took the photograph last week.
23-year-old Samantha Ann Francis claimed that she took the photograph herself at Lakeside MRT station last Tuesday night.
Following investigations by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Ms Samantha Ann Francis eventually admitted that she had taken the image from a post on social networking site Twitter.
The original tweet has since been removed.
On discovering this, Mr Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of SPH's English and Malay Newspapers Division, sent a letter to Mr Tan Ek Kia, the interim chief executive of rail operator SMRT, apologising for the incident.
Ms Samantha Ann Francis was also sacked by SPH, which owns Stomp, on the same day.
Mr Daniel said in his letter to SMRT: 'My team and I would like to apologise unreservedly to SMRT for this erroneous report by one of our staff. We truly regret the damage this has caused SMRT.'
He added: 'Aside from breaching our professional ethics, what she (Ms Samantha Ann Francis) has done goes against all the values that we stand for.'
APOLOGY on STOMP
Statement by STOMP Editor, Azhar Kasman
STOMP would like to apologise for the posting on June 20, supposedly showing an SMRT train that left Lakeside station with one set of doors open. The report, submitted by a STOMP content producer, has been found to be fabricated.
The content producer, Ms Samantha Ann Samantha Ann Francis, had submitted the photo to STOMP, claiming that she had taken it when she was at Lakeside MRT Station at 10.15pm on June 19.
Following investigations by our staff, Ms Samantha Ann Francis has admitted that she had in fact taken the photo off a posting on Twitter. The original tweet has since been removed.
Ms Samantha Ann Francis has been dismissed by Singapore Press Holdings, which owns Stomp.
SPH sent a letter yesterday (24/5) to SMRT's interim CEO Tan Ek Kia apologising for the incident.
Mr Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of SPH's English and Malay Newspapers Division, said in the letter: "My team and I would like to apologise unreservedly to SMRT for this erroneous report by one of our staff. We truly regret the damage this has caused SMRT."
He added: "Aside from breaching our professional ethics, what Ms Samantha Ann Francis has done goes against all the values that we stand for."
As STOMP editor, I would also like to personally apologise to SMRT and members of the public for this erroneous article in STOMP. I deeply regret that one of our staff breached professional ethics and posted a fabricated report.
I would like to assure the public and all STOMP readers that the website does not tolerate such unethical behaviour.
We will also be reviewing our operating procedures and will do everything we can to prevent such a lapse from recurring.
