Tube Heroes and Northern Line Strike Threat Averted

Tu Be or not Tu Be - Shakespearean actor rescues woman on Tube Tracks

Only last week Donald Trump gave a $10,000 reward to a "Superman" who rescued a woman from the New York subway, so will we see Jeffrey Archer or Alan Sugar do the same with RSC actor Chuk Iwuji and an anonymous bystander? Both men leapt onto the tracks to drag a woman to safety at Clapham South station as a train approached.

Mr Iwuji said he was listening to music on Monday morning as he waited for his train when he heard shouts. "This girl was on the tracks. She was obviously trapped and could not move; it looked like she was doing some kind of head-stand. She was upside down when the train was just pulling in," he said.

"She would have been about 30ft from the opening of the tunnel and the train probably stopped about 20ft from her. There was a moment when I thought it was not going to stop in time."

The other man had jumped down first and this triggered Iwuji to act as well. Not content with that, the gallant actor risked electrocution a second time to rescue her shoe which had been left behind. Must have been a Jimmy Choo!

TfL don't look as though they will be following New York's example, with a civic reward, and said: "We thank the two members of the public who helped this passenger. But we would caution strongly against people risking their lives by going on to the track, which is highly dangerous. Our staff are well trained to deal with such emergencies, and, as this incident shows, our safety procedures work." Check out the BBC for the full story.

Ironically, the New York subway rescuer has now been given a free Jeep, so perhaps this means his days of leaping in front of trains are over.

Sacked driver back in the job

After the possibility of strike action on the Northern Line you can breathe a sigh of relief as the Tube driver that was at the centre of the dispute has been re-instated. LU said he would return to work under close supervision.

An LU spokesman said: "A decision was made on appeal that, while the driver was guilty of a misdemeanour, the original dismissal was too severe.

"As a result it has been reduced to a suspended sentence of 12 months."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, January 11, 2007 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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