A major safety blunder on the Tube allowed a vulnerable young man with mental health problems to run into a tunnel and be killed by a train, the Standard reveals today.

Transport for London was criticised by a coroner after staff failed to switch off the power on both lines at Finsbury Park station or alert the driver of the oncoming train.

Student Andrew Phrydas, 23, a talented artist and car enthusiast from Southgate, was killed by a Piccadilly line train four minutes after running into a Victoria line tunnel.

Staff had switched the power off on the Victoria line but not on the Piccadilly, which runs alongside and intersects the other.

His family believe he ran away because he feared he would be re-admitted to a secure mental unit. They insist he was not a suicide risk.

The inquest jury returned a narrative conclusion and said that Mr Phrydas’s “intentions [were] unclear at the time of his death” on June 4, 2012.

The case raised such concerns with St Pancras coroner Mary Hassell that she took the unusual step of ordering TfL to change its procedures to prevent similar tragedies.

In March 2012 Mr Phrydas was treated at mental health units at Chase Farm hospital and Edgware hospital before he was discharged in April and received care at home. On the day of his death, Mr Phrydas was travelling to Ilford to buy a car. At Finsbury Park, a passenger became alarmed he was about to jump in front of a train and tried to pull him back from the platform edge.

CCTV footage obtained by his father Chris Phrydas showed his son break free from the man’s grasp and enter the tunnel when he saw the TfL staff running towards them.

The inquest heard staff had shouted to the man: “Let go of him, the power is off. The trains have stopped.” His father said: “Andrew must have heard that the power was cut off. The question is: why did he go into the tunnel? Andrew was not a stupid person.”

It emerged at last November’s inquest that a “head wall phone” at the end of the Piccadilly line platform could have been used to cut the power instantly. “It could have been done in one minute and everything would have been different,” said Mr Phrydas’s 25-year-old sister Andrea. She said the actions of TfL and the NHS had “dealt Andrew an injustice”. She said: “I see them as being both to blame.”

Another sister, Niki, 29, who is a counsellor, said: “I hope that other young vulnerable individuals who may be going through a completely normal difficulty within their life gain an awareness from this story that anti-depressants carry with them adverse side effects which can considerably worsen how you feel.”

Nigel Holness, operations director of London Underground, said: “Unfortunately these kinds of incidents occur on all railways and are traumatic for everyone involved, the families, friends, Underground staff and the emergency services. We have noted the coroner’s comments and will be responding to the report.” Barnet, Enfield and Haringey mental health trust said: “We would like to reiterate our sincere condolences. Following the inquest no further actions were required of the trust but we did carry out a full review of the care provided.”