Businessman David Brown was killed when he smashed his head on scaffolding when he leaned out of a train window on December 9 last year.

BCM Construction of Locks Lane admitted in May to creating a risk to the travelling public after failing to ensure a pole was the required 22 inches from the train in a tunnel near Denmark Hill Station and was in fact only four inches away.

Railtrack was also fined £200,000 for failing to check the pole was at a safe enough distance for trains with opening windows.

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said no checks or measurements had been made on the scaffolding to make sure there was a big enough gap.

The two firms could have faced a bigger punishment at sentencing at Blackfriars Crown Court last Friday as the charge carries the potential for an unlimited fine.

A BCM spokesman said the company did not wish to comment on the case.