London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

It's Friday and time to get the files of the Fashion Police out as we look at the last London Underground Fashion Victims of February 2008. Clear examples of commuters who have taken a style and made it their own.

My Eyes, My Eyes


This woman goes for bold and errr, well bold. Giant sized Chanel bag has its own seat on the Tube. Garish leopard skin print boots, that Rod Stewart would have been proud of and a metallic puffa jacket. Now that whole look says - classy!

She's seen the future

It's quite sad that we're in the 21st Century and we haven't got jet packs or aren't wearing metallic outfits. Well at least some of us aren't:


When you look at the rest of her outfit with its miniature micro hat held on with clips and willpower alone, the Jetson boots don't look too out of place.


That's it for now. The previous victims can be found here and the complete picture gallery can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 29, 2008 Permalink

Chutney Bannister's Photography Show - Underworld

Regular visitors to the blog will know that I often feature Chutney Bannister's fab London Underground photographs. Last night was the opening party of a free show "Underworld" that he put on in Kentish Town. It runs until the 12th March.

Here are are couple of pictures I took at the evening:





The nearest Tubes to Flaxon Ptootch are Kentish Town, Camden Town & Chalk Farm.

Well done Chutney.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 29, 2008 Permalink

Multi mobile ownership could indicate terrorism

If you live in London you might have seen & heard on the radio a series of new ads aimed at combating terrorism. We're all asked to look out for suspicious behaviour such as people taking pictures of CCTV cameras or people who have several mobile phones. So that basically means any geek, particularly Tube photographers.


One poster says: "Terrorists need communications. They often collect and use many anonymous pay-as-you-go phones, as well as swapping sim cards and handsets.

"If you're suspicious of the number of phones someone has, we need to know."


Obviously I'm in favour of finding and capturing terrorists on public transport or anywhere. But I really think that the ownership of mobile phones as an indicator of terrorism could be turning on the "fear factor" too much. A huge number of people I know have two mobile phones. Jag from Route79 also noted this.

Up until recently I had two mobile phones - one for work and one for personal use.

James from Spinvox kindly invited me and some other nice bloggers to an event celebrating the ICA's 60th Birthday. In between being entertained by the celebs (more pictures from the night from Mecca's Flickr stream), I brought up the subject of this ad, and everyone agreed that the ads went too far.


Admittedly, we were all from a "mobile heavy" demographic, but the point remains that most people have good reasons for using "several" mobile phones. Perhaps the police ads should have focussed more on the other "suspicious" behaviour such as people buying large quantities of chemicals.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 28, 2008 Permalink

Did the Earth Move for you Baby?

Apparently much of Britain had an earthquake last night at about 1am (measuring about 5.3) and I must have slept through it. Or possibly because I live so close to a railway line, I must have assumed that it was the normal rumble of trains going by.


The Station Supervisor of London Underground Life felt the earthquake.

The centre of the quake was around 127 miles north of London. Be interesting to hear if you felt it too, wherever you live in England.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Staff Visualisation

Do you like the thought of visualising yourself at work even when you're not there?


London Underground had used a series of posters encouraging staff to start getting in "the right frame of mind" before their shift started.

I spose I can see where they are coming from, but not sure about the image of the Train driver, sorry, operator, returning from holiday, happily sitting on a plane, about to tuck into a flight meal, then thinking about himself behind the controls of his train.

Would you really start visualising yourself back at work that early?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Permalink

West London Tube pest gets ASBO & Jail

Luckily I've not had the misfortune to come across this guy, even though I do use South Kensington station a fair bit. The British Transport Police (BTP) report that "David Ellis (66), of no fixed abode, was sentenced at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 20 February after persistently threatening and intimidating staff and passengers at Gloucester Road and South Kensington LU stations."

"Ellis would walk around the two stations growling at women and children, and pushing women out of his way. He spat at passengers and harassed them for money in the station booking halls, smoked cigarettes on the stations and made hoax phone calls using station payphones to the emergency services.

Despite being arrested and ejected from the stations on many occasions, Ellis would return and continue to harass passengers and staff."

BTP Police Constable Kelly Sellers said:

"We are very pleased with the ASBO served against Mr Ellis. His language towards staff and passengers was foul and racist, and his behaviour was intimidating and threatening.

"This result has been achieved through months of evidence gathering by BTP officers.

"Passengers and staff who expressed concern will now be able to travel through and work on these stations without fear of further nuisance and intimidation from Ellis, who faces up to five years in prison if he breaches this order.

"Everyone has the right to travel or work on the Tube and go about their business without being subjected to this sort of abuse and the four month sentence and ASBO handed down to Ellis shows just how seriously this type of crime is treated by BTP and the courts."

I find it particularly nasty how he picked on women & children, probably knowing that a man would deck him. As the BTP say, everyone has a right to work & travel on the London Underground without being growled and spat at or racially abused. Let's hope the ASBO works when he gets out of jail.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Permalink

Video of Flickr Mini Meet @ London Transport Museum

Mike Sizemore shot a great video of the Flickr Mini Meet we ran last weekend. You might find the part where he videos the Museum's video of the growth of the Tube Map particularly interesting. It's at about 2.41 mins in.


Thanks to TrustedPlaces for supporting him while he helped me to organise this. More on the Mini Meet later - the pool of pictures from the afternoon is at over 640 now and I think there's still more to come!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, February 25, 2008 Permalink

Queen of the Underground IS Queen of the Underground

In a spooky bit of irony - busker Hadar who has a great song called "Queen of the Underground" has now been crowned "Queen of the Underground" by winning Buskear's search to find the best busker on the London Underground.


I've heard Hadar, lots of times on the Tube, and she does have an amazing voice so I believe the award's well deserved. I think when I first heard her, I thought she was Katie Melua doing some sort of promotion.

She said: "It's great to have won this competition but I believe there isn't just one Queen or King or best artist on the underground or above. We are all (buskers/artists) unique and special in a different way. I know musicians who played with huge bands and sometimes like to play the underground, it's an amazing experience!

Without the buskers who are the unsung heroes of London, and part of the fabric of the city, we wouldn't have had the magic, of creating the soundtrack to the people who travel in this city."

You can see the lyrics to "Queen of the Underground", which she wrote as a jingle for co-sponsors of the competition, Capital 95.8, earlier this month.

I'm sure the busking community will be having much discussion / argument etc about why she won, who should have won, how much publicity she got, whatever. But essentially she's a great singer and I'm sure she will now do incredibly well as a result of the crown.


Finally, I must apologise to my busking friend Lloyd Davis for not getting my interview with him up yet. In the meantime, you might want to have a look at some photos I took of him a couple of weeks ago, busking at Bond Street.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, February 24, 2008 Permalink

Farringdon - Rudest Tube Station Two Years in a Row

Rudest London Underground Station. Now that's not neccessarily an honour you want to have once, but twice? Blimey the staff there must be pretty err, customer un-friendly.


"Complaints were made about the behaviour of staff 37 times last year.

That is more than double the number of complaints at the next worst station, Finsbury Park - despite the fact that Farringdon is smaller and handled 10 million fewer passengers.

In 2006, there were 29 complaints about staff at Farringdon when the station also topped Islington's complaints league." said thelondonpaper.

Now a local councillor & independent travel watchdog and have requested a high-level investigation into the findings to make sure the situation improves.

Do you know of any other Tube stations where you think the staff are particularly rude? If you're a regular user of Farringdon do you think they deserve the Rude crown?

Update - They're clearly trying hard to give good customer service now. See what I saw there on Friday 29th Feb.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 22, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

It's Friday and time for the second London Underground Fashion Victims of 2008. OK last week I lied when I said, that's all for this month - but couldn't resist the two below. Clear examples of commuters who have taken a style and made it their own.

Super Red Killer Heels

I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get a better shot of the woman below, but her boyfriend was in front of her and facing me, so I was probably mindful of the snapper who got punched on the Tube:


She's clearly not wearing escalator friendly shoes. They look like those amazing "F*** me" pumps from Agent Provacateur. But then why kill such a vampy look with a cartoony bag?

Bag Toys

I know loads of people love bag jewellery and little toys for their bags, but I just can't see the appeal. I can understand putting button badges on bags, but going out with half the cast of The Muppet Show chained to your bag, is a step too far.


The woman above was going for that collegiate look too, as you may be able to see the cricket jumper she's wearing. Altogether it wasn't a good look.

That's it for now. The previous victims can be found here and the complete picture gallery can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 22, 2008 Permalink

Sketches of Refurbishment of the London Transport Museum

When we were at the Flickr Mini Meet at the London Transport Museum on Sunday, Sizemore and I spotted a quiet and rather peaceful gallery on the first floor, away from the excitement & buzz of the main museum downstairs.


It was full of pastel sketches by Bruce Rowling who volunteered to become the museum's "refurbishment artist".





I only found out from yesterday's Metro, that this particular exhibition in the "CBS Outdoor Gallery" isn't permanent and will be running until the 30th March.



BTW - I will do a full blog post on the Flickr Mini Meet at the LT Museum, but am waiting for the Flickrites to get all their pictures up. I think we're nearly there - currently there's over 600 in the stream and I know some of these just represent a selection of what was taken on the day. But in the meantime you can read posts of the day from Jag of Route79, James Cridland and Sizemore's blog post for Trusted Places which includes a video.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 22, 2008 Permalink

Tube Roundel in Facebook Ad

I very rarely click on ads in Facebook, but naturally the one below caught my eye:


This will send TfL's lawyers into a roundel infringement hunting frenzy so I won't say which company the ad is for - but it's a reasonably well known finance group and not some little easyloans, loansrus, loans4u, fly by night company.

Beats seeing the usual ones on Facebook for plastic surgery or ads for dull products livened up by pictures of busty chicks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 21, 2008 Permalink

How well do kids know the Tube?

With it being half term, I've seen more than my fair share of kids on the Tube over the last couple of weeks. However, I came across an animation of how the London Underground map has become etched on the souls of every child in London. Although sadly it seems to have been taken down now.


Even though I've lived in Greater London all my life, it wasn't until I was 18 that I lived within walking distance of a Tube station. So I haven't got quite the same memories of commuting as a kid. It was more of a "treat" for going into town (although I was absolutely petrified of escalators for ages). I wonder if kids who use the Tube today will have a really innate knowledge of the Tube map?

One of my favourite kids books about the Tube or the Tube experienced from a child's eyes is The Underground Conspiracy. The lead girl in the novel really does know the Tube like the back of her hand and has many secret short-cuts for getting around it much faster.


How do boys learn to sit like that at a young age?
Did any of you regularly use the Tube under the age of 18? Do you have kids who commute on it now? Just curious as to how they experience the Tube today.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 21, 2008 Permalink

Tube groper jailed for one year

At the risk of turning into a Crimewatch blog about the London Underground (see the post below about the guy who thumped an amateur photographer on the Tube), a Tube groper has been given a year's prison sentence for sexually assaulting women on Central line Tube trains and the Docklands Light Railway on three occasions between April and June 2007.

"In all of the offences, Cutler boarded a crowded train, stood directly behind his victim and groped her. His name will also be placed onto the sex offender's register for 10 years.

Cutler was caught after a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation used CCTV footage to link him to the crimes." report the Kent Messenger

Detective Constable Jane Hill, of BTP's Indecency Unit, said: "I would like to thank the victims and witnesses who came forward because with their help it was possible for us to quickly identify Cutler as the offender.

"Everyone has the right to travel on the Tube and go about their business without being subjected to this sort of assault and the one year sentence handed down shows just how seriously this type of crime is treated by BTP and the courts."

Fortunately groping isn't such a big problem on the Tube as it is on Tokyo's subway. Regular readers may remember my recent post where the Japanese are successfully selling fake straphangers to give men something to do with their hands and make it clearly look like they are not groping women.

Thanks to Time Out

BTW - Welcome to anyone who's visting this blog as a result of it being named in Time Out as one of London's 50 Best Websites.

Thanks Time Out - I'm seriously honoured & glad to see my friends Jag from Route79, Brian Pigeon and the Londonist amongst the top 50 too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, February 20, 2008 Permalink

Police seeking Tube photographer attacker

A man taking some photographs of people on the London Underground was attacked and hopefully the picture that he took of his attacker can lead to their arrest:


PC Ben Dawson said "It would appear the victim, an amateur photographer, who enjoys taking snaps of London street scenes, was taking shots on the escalators when a member of the public took exception to having his photo taken and asked him to delete the photo.

"The photographer told him he could not delete the shot as it was not a digital camera. The man then attempted to grab the camera and punched the victim in the face. The victim suffered cuts and bruising to his face as a result of the incident.

"We have released this photo today, which was taken by the victim prior to the incident and we are appealing to members of the public to assist us in identifying the man pictured.

"The man is described as white, 34-38 years-old and about 5 ft 9 in tall. He was wearing a dark jacket and carrying a dark rucksack."

If you can help please call the British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or the Witness Appeal Line on 020 7391 5275 quoting background reference B5 of 15/02/08. The attack happened at 10.17pm on Wednesday 12 December.

I'm always pretty careful about making sure the pictures that I personally take and blog about have faces blurred or not shown, mainly because I'm usually commenting on their dress sense. And luckily I have a digital camera so if anyone did ask me to delete a picture I would be able to. Also if any Tube Fashion Victims (TFVs) could identify themselves and ask me to take their picture down I would. So far only one TFV identified herself and she thought it was really funny.

People certainly have a right to privacy, however, if you are travelling in a public place you can expect to get photographed. People also have a right not to get smacked in the face, particularly when they're not breaking the law.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Permalink

How long did the Tube take to move this?

Many thanks to Martin Deutsch who gave me a copy of Saturday's Guardian when we were at the Flickr Mini Meet at the London Transport Museum yesterday (more from me on that later this week - loads of photos to upload).


I had seen the picture of Glamoursmith, sorry, Hammersmith station before, where pesky urban artists Darius & Downey rather cleverly subvert familiar signs and icons. They now have a book out on February 23rd - The Adventures of Darius and Downey. If you have Saturday's Guardian you can check out more shots from London including a pair of kissing Belisha beacons.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, February 18, 2008 Permalink

Guess Where Tube Quiz (2) - Answers

IanD's second "Guess Where Tube quiz" got a great response with tons of you guessing the location of various London Underground stations, which is surprisingly hard when the station names are blanked out.

Here are the results:


Picture 1 - Liverpool Street- guessed correctly by nine of you


Picture 2 - Waterloo - 12 of you got this one right


Picture 3 - Walthamstow Central - guessed correctly by six of you


Picture 4 - Goldhawk Road or as Ian says the canopy sign appears to say Gold Hawk Road. A number of you were thrown by the "Bush Garden" cafe next door. But it was guessed correctly by six of you - or one if you go with Ian's theory!


Picture 5 - Rotherhithe - only four of you got this one right.


Picture 6 - Paddington


Picture 7 - Leytonstone - I'm surprised more people didn't get this one with its Hitchcock mosaics. But overall, eight guessed correctly.


Picture 8 - Hounslow Central - six people got this right.


Picture 9 - Lambeth North - seven correct guesses here.


Picture 10 - Kingsbury - the least known station with only three of you getting it.


Picture 11 - Harrow on the Hill - six people got this one.


Picture 12 - Kennington - seven correct guesses here.

Once again, no one guessed all twelve correctly but Chz got the most stations correct with 10 right answers, which is quite an achievement.

Many thanks again to IanD for devising the quiz. Great idea he's already got another one in the pipeline for you.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, February 18, 2008 Permalink

Venus is now allowed to be nude on the Tube

But Christ in boxer shorts is a no no

London Underground have done a fairly swift U-turn and are now allowing the naked Venus painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder to be displayed on the Tube network, as the Royal Academy of Art's poster campaign.

The Guardian report that "A spokesman admitted yesterday (Friday): "On reflection, given its context, the Cranach exhibition poster should not have been rejected and we have now approved the ad to be carried on the Tube."

News of the Tube's prudishness relating to the 500 year old artwork spread around the world & they were branded "bonkers" by John Whittingdale, chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

However, since then, a poster for a black comedy "Fat Christ" has been banned by the Tube on the grounds that it was "likely to offend ethnic, religious or other major groups". I think the fact that it stars "famous for being famous" topless model, Abi Titmuss, is likely to offend more people, but that's by the by.


The ban has been criticised by the Reverend Stephen Coles, of St Thomas's Church in Finsbury Park. He said: "The itch to censor is something one should resist. I can't quite see how this could cause offence. We're grown-ups and Jesus can defend himself. One has to be a little wary of indulging the super-sensitive." The Reverend added that the boxer shots actually preserved Christ's dignity more than usual.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, February 16, 2008 Permalink

Carry On Up Your Tubes

London Underground Photo of the Week

Simply loving this photo of a new poster for the Freedom Pass taken by the ever brill photographer *version-3-point-1:


You can almost hear the Tube driver with a Sid James cackle, shouting, "Stand clear of the doors love, mind your backs now. All stations to Cockfosters, you'd be Barking mad to miss it."

Leslie Phillips (Well Hello!) from several Carry On Films was used to launch this campaign last Monday.


How come that is just so on target with its (generally) more mature market whereas the numpty considerate Londoners misses the mark so much? Barking!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, February 16, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

It's Friday. It's the end of London Fashion Week and time for the first London Underground Fashion Victims of 2008. Commuters who are following Trinny & Susannah a little too rigidly or ones who have taken a style and made it their own.

Blokes Uggs

You don't see many men wearing Uggs (thank the Lord) but these were worn by a celebrity comedian who lives in Kew. I was sitting way too close to him to get his face in the picture, and to be honest, he's not really that famous any more. So I'll just let the Uggs speak for themselves.


I think they're saying "We don't look quite as fugly on men as we do on women, and the bit of mud on them, makes our owner look a bit rugged & outdoorsy"

I'm Not a Plastic Bag

There's nowt wrong with being green, but aren't we over the "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" bags now?


People queued for hours when a few of the bags were sold at Anya Hindmarch's London boutique last year and there were also long queues when Sainsbury's started selling them. But now there's a bit of an Anti-I'm not a plastic bag backlash - especially as it was discovered they were made in China using cheap labour and are neither organic or fair trade.

Speaking of non-plastic bags, Mecca's artist friend Margaret is *thinking* about selling some of the handmade hand painted bags she makes in her spare time, but has no idea how much to charge. She'd really appreciate it if you could say how much you'd be prepared for a bag like hers.

Thanks.

Words fail me

Finally, I have few words to describe the look going on below:


From the top we have a strange glittery woollen visor. The Nike puffa jacket makes her body look quite masculine, and then she becomes a woman again with some brown stripy cord-like trousers.

That's it for this month. The previous victims can be found here and the complete picture gallery can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 15, 2008 Permalink

Venus Too Sexy for the Tube

To "celebrate" Valentine's Day, it seems kind of appropriate to note that the Goddess of Love - Venus - isn't allowed on the London Underground, as she's simply too nekkid.

The 500 year old painting by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder was intended to be the main poster for the Royal Academy of Arts' show of his works.

But CBS Outdoor who are responsible for all the ads on the London Underground deemed it too sexual and likely to cause offence.

John Whittingdale, chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said: "The decision is absolutely bonkers. This was painted around 500 years ago."

However, the rules say that ads should not "depict men, women or children in a sexual manner, or display nude or semi-nude figures in an overtly sexual context".

The Guardian report that "Six years ago the National Portrait Gallery - then headed by Charles Saumarez Smith, now chief at the Royal Academy - had to create a special, more modest poster for the underground of a 17th century painting by Lely of the beautiful Countess of Oxford with one breast bared. However, the Academy doesn't have a Venus under wraps. "We don't have a version B where she's got her clothes on," a spokeswoman said. "We're just hoping they change their minds and accept her."

They might be in for a long wait.

Venus now joins the ranks of Rampant Rabbit, a breast feeding bloke with man boobs, Jerry Hall with a pack of half naked men on leads and an ad for Gay Times which were all banned from the Tube for having the potential to cause offence.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 14, 2008 Permalink

Tube Photos of the Week

Stand clear of the angry doors

Someone's been hard at work with a sharp object here:


As Amphalon who took the photo says "Be particularly careful if the doors are angry".

Jonanamary also spotted a similar sign


Wonder if it's the same person at work?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 14, 2008 Permalink

Curvy Tube Map Re-visited

One of the most popular pictures on my Flickr stream is of map expert Maxwell Roberts'"Curvy London Underground Map". Max decided to re-visit the map in the light of the addition of the London Overground line, and has written a guest post for me:


"Thanks to all the comments on Version 1 of 'Curvy Tube Map', many suggestions have been taken into account. My station marks caused controversy before, and this time round I have tried circles, but still directional. The gradient fill was always deliberate; for people following lines, they alert the presence of a station, and give a little bit of 'lift' to the map. Plain circles look drab, standard tickmarks would be completely out of keeping.

Version 2 was quite a challenge. The risk with many lines on an all-curves map is a flailing seasick-inducing tangle. People expected to see the "tangerine octopus" added (as named by diamondgeezer) but these lines have to blend in seamlessly and not draw the eye from the most important part on the map, the centre. For Overground, with all that overpowering orange, I ended up running the lines underneath the Underground lines. This diffuses the orbital mass of colour just enough. Purists will object, but take a look at the current official map, where which line goes above or below Overground seems to be random.

The routes taken by Overground seem to flow well and adding them has not damaged the routes of the Underground network. In fact, the centre of the map has been completely reworked, and compared with Version 1, every line has a better route. The Northern Line West End branch was sacrificed in the process, but it still seems happy."


"So, does this map 'work'? With extra railways on it, the simplicity of Version 1 has been diluted, and the map needs a bit more mental effort to make sense of it (as for any complex map). I think I have shown that there may well be some mileage in designing maps in this way, but die-hard Beck fans will not be convinced. On the other hand, it's hard to know just how bad the design of the current official map has to get before they would be."

Again I think that Max has done a good job with this, particularly with the complexity created by the extra lines. As before Max is very interested in hearing your thoughts, and answered all your comments on the previous verison. If you want to see more of the whole map click from here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Permalink

Notes from the Underground - Issue 2 launch

If you spot some Magritte stylie bowler hatted, red neck-tied suited people on your journey soon, it's for the launch of Notes from the Underground's 2nd issue. The publication is a "literary" freesheet set up by two recent graduates and will be handed out from tomorrow and Thursday at 35 central London Underground & London mainline stations and can also be picked up at HMV, Foyles and on the Eurostar.


"In the current climate, people expect their culture to be served up for free," says Chris Vernon. "There are lots of lasting literary journals, but nothing disposable, and we want to fill the gap."

Uh, oh - "disposable". "So not another lightweight freesheet to clutter up the Tube", you may be thinking.

Well, the editors are aiming to provide quality writing that hopefully you might want to keep when you get home. The content of future issues, (the publication will move from monthly to fortnightly), will range from poems and short stories to cartoons. There's contributions from well-established names, such as Bryan Ferry and Russell Brand, to first-time writers who have sent work by email. "We want to give everyone a fair shot," says Vernon.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Permalink

London Underground recruiting drivers / train operators

For the first time, in a long time, TfL are looking for new recruits as London Underground Train Operators.

According to my ex-boyfriend the only way to get to be a driver in recent years was to get a "foot in the door" as a CSA (customer service assistant) or similar and then work your way up.

Looks like times have changed. The ad on RailNews says:

Job Information: Train Operators

West and North London • £38,311

Every time you pull into an underground station you'll see a platform of people, all waiting for you. Whether it's commuters, tourists, leisure travellers or people with specific needs, they all need a professional train operator to look after them. Being the face of the tube is a big responsibility, but getting people safely to their destinations is something you'll be proud to do. Whether you're an experienced driver or are new to the profession, London Underground can offer you a rewarding career. The job is challenging and expectations are high. But if you're willing to work shifts (early starts, late finishes or nights), you are punctual, you've got the concentration to work alone, obey signals and you're happy wearing a uniform, you can expect an excellent salary and great benefits, including 43 days' holiday, fantastic pension, world class training and free travel for you and your partner.

Closing date is the 28 February 2008, so if you feel you fit the bill, get in quickly as that's not a bad salary, fantastic holiday, free travel AND you get to wear a uniform. What's there not to like about this ad?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, February 11, 2008 Permalink

Not on the London Underground

It's been a long time since I last uploaded pictures that you've seen of the Tube roundel not in its familiar home. So apologies to all of you who've sent them in. So, here's a bumper collection of the most obvious roundel rip-off's, from the ones I've been sent recently, starting with the UK and then moving overseas:

Spotted by Bushboy1976 outside Sleaford Station.


Continuing the snack theme, Geoff saw this in Cornwall, home of the pasty:


Steve W spotted this in Stornaway, in the Highlands of Scotland, when he was on holiday:


Moving overseas, Dan D saw Abbey Road in Korea


Stephen Karlson saw a roundel rip-off at a technology store in North Milwaukee Street, Milwaukee.


John T photographed this in Adelaide. He said "The logo was on the side of a small tractor on a road construction site. Several workers also sported the same logo on their jackets."


Jason L has recently moved from London to New Zealand. When visiting some people in Nelson, he saw the following store in a shopping mall in Richmond.


Finally, back to Europe with this from Rick G taken at the "Nederlandse Modelspoordagen" ("Dutch Model Railway days"), a major Dutch model railway fair held annually at Rijswijk, just south of The Hague, the Netherlands.


Rick said "Liliput is a registered brand of model railway products. They are a subsidiary of Bachmann Europe, producers of (among others) the "Underground Ernie" line of toy trains. The Underground Ernie toys sport a Tube roundel with the text "Underground Ernie" on the box, so I assume they’ve been granted permission from TfL to use the roundel.

"The interesting thing is that the Liliput logo on the Bachmann website is totally different from the TfL roundel shown on the package in the photo. I wonder how this one made its way into the retail market? As I would imagine that Bachmann’s license to use the roundel does not extend beyond the "Underground Ernie" line of products, and would certainly not entitle them to skew the roundel for use on other brands, as appears to have been done here."

Many thanks to all above. If you have any roundel rip-off's that you've seen on your travels, please feel free to send them to me. The best will be blogged and added to the "Not on the London Underground" Flickr set (I'll try to do it at little faster next time).

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, February 11, 2008 Permalink

London Transport Museum in finals for Art Fund Prize

The recently renovated London Transport Museum is among ten museums and galleries that have been included in the long list for The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries (formerly The Gulbenkian Prize).


The prize of £100,000 will be awarded to the museum or gallery whose project demonstrates the most originality, imagination and excellence.

You have a chance to vote for the LT Museum or your favourite from the list.

Apparently, your vote won't influence the final outcome of who wins the Prize but this 24 Hour Museum People's Vote is said to be "a good barometer of how you feel about your favourite museums and galleries - and we promise to keep the judges informed of how the voting goes".

Even before I heard about this Jane Findlay, the Community Curator at the museum, very kindly sent me some tickets to take some Tube friendly Flickr photographers & bloggers along to see the exhibits. We're going in a week or so and will no doubt come away with our views & pictures of the Museum, so that may help you with your decision.

There's also a London Transport Museum Flickr Group where you can add your own pictures of the Museum & comment on others.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 08, 2008 Permalink

Guess Where Tube Quiz - Round Two

Last September, IanD made a version of the Guess where London game, but for the London Underground stations. It had a really good response so I asked if he'd be happy to run one again.

An intro from Ian "For the past couple of years I've been visiting each Tube station on the network and taking photos of the exteriors and now that I've almost finished (just some of the Eastern Central line stations to go) I was wondering what to do with the photos. To pass away a boring Friday afternoon, I knocked up the attached picture quiz to circulate around the office. Only one person got full marks but not many people here are as fanatical about the Underground as your readers who I am sure could do better."

I've not looked at the correct answers yet, but think I could get 3 right - possibly 4.

Once again there are 12 stations in total, one for each Underground line.

There are no prizes, just the satisfaction of seeing how many of them you can get. Try not to look at the person or people before you when making your guesses in the comments below. I'll put up the answers next week:


Picture 1


Picture 2


Picture 3


Picture 4


Picture 5


Picture 6


Picture 7


Picture 8


Picture 9


Picture 10


Picture 11


Picture 12
Enjoy and thanks again to IanD for devising the quiz.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 08, 2008 Permalink

Ziggy fronts Tube Dating Site

Following the many sites that try to connect love struck, but tongue-tied, London Underground travellers with each other, Big Brother's Ziggy is going to be the spokesperson for a new site TalkontheTube.com.


Website founder Neil Martin decided to build the site after meeting a woman he liked on the commute home but failed to get her number.

He said "One fateful night in December 2006 when, on the way home from a night out in Clapham, I found myself in the enviable position of sitting next to a gorgeous blonde for the first leg of my journey back to Pimlico. I immediately noticed that like me she was wearing contact lenses and that her eyes were smarting in the dry air of the underground. So buoyed by the courage that inevitably ensues after four pints of London Pride, I ventured forth this astute insight. Much to my surprise and delight she didn't run down the other end of the carriage but instead complimented my powers of observation......

So as the doors closed behind me I was once again left kicking myself that I had forgotten to get her phone number and left wondering why there wasn't some sort of website where you could follow up such brief encounters. Hang on a minute though, what's to stop me starting such a site I thought and that moment Talk on the Tube was born!"

Mmmm - pity Neil hadn't done a bit of Googling as he'd have probably found snoglondon, londontubemates, and the oldest as far as I know, Isawyoutoday.com. Since then thelondonpaper have a online version of their Commuter Cupid page. And of course there's a facebook group for people who temporarily fall in love with people on public transport.

Anyway, talkonthetube has the usual social not-working networking features of profiles, pictures and videos & also features 'Second Chance' message boards to find people that caught your eye on the Tube.

Ziggy & his mate Brian (also from Big Brother) appear to be two of the "totties" up for grabs. Calm down ladies. And to top it all, Ziggy is also writing a weekly blog (I can't wait). Why Ziggy as a spokesperson? Well, he used to be in a band called "Northern Line" and I spose it's yet another way to eke a living out of Big Brother.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 07, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Quids In

Almost £2bn of taxpayers' cash is being given to the London Underground to cover the collapse of the private maintenance firm Metronet.

The deal was announced in addition to a 10-year £39bn funding package for Transport for London (TfL).

Critics said it represented a "bail out" of the firm but TfL deny this.

As expected, there's more sides to this story than a town hall clock. Transport secretary Ruth Kelly said: "The settlement gives London Underground the resources needed to manage Metronet's administration and move toward a more stable long-term footing and continue the work to maintain, renew and upgrade the Underground."

The unions, in the shape of Bob Crow, say: "It was bad enough that Metronet's collapse cast a shadow over London's essential Tube upgrades, and it is scandalous that the public will have to pick up the £1.7 billion bill to pay off its lenders."

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said "This does not represent a bail-out. The money would have been paid back to the lenders over the course of the PPP contracts had Metronet stayed in business."

Brian Cooke, spokesman for passenger group London TravelWatch, said: "We hope the confirmation of funding means that TfL can now speed up any work on the transport network that may have been delayed because of fears that TfL would have to bear the cost of Metronet's collapse".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 07, 2008 Permalink

Faulty Jubilee Line Train Strands Passengers

About 450 London Underground rush hour passengers were stuck on a train for almost two hours on Wednesday morning and had to be led out along tracks after a power fault.

A Jubilee Line train stalled near Bond Street and staff were unable to get it back into the station.

The BBC said "Passengers had to evacuate from the front of the train and were helped along the 300-yard (274m) walk over sleepers and gravel by police and ambulance staff."

A TfL spokesperson said: "As the simplest means of getting passengers off a stalled train is to move it into the station, attempts were made to move it without success.

"When this did not work, the decision was taken to push forward the train with another train. The safety of passengers is our top priority and we apologise for any inconvenience that today's disruption caused."

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, February 07, 2008 Permalink

Clear as mud at Heathrow

Thanks to Martin Deutsch for spotting this poster at Hounslow West about the extended London Underground Piccadilly line to support the 5th Terminal at Heathrow (actually the poster is just about as clear as my previous sentence - but I hope you know what I mean).


I don't envy map and sign makers, but I can see more than a few people - tourists and locals alike - scratching their heads at this one. For me, it's the plethora of arrows that are causing the problems with this sign - by trying to be clear, they just end up going into directional frenzy.

Speaking of Terminal 5, Pete a regular commenter on this blog emailed me to say: "I've just discovered the 'trials' taking place at Heathrow Terminal 5 in advance of it opening for real in late March. Basically you turn up with a bag and a passport and simulate getting on a flight to some fantasy destination to test their systems and procedures...."

We're not sure if it means testing the Piccadilly Line from Terminal 5 as well. Anyway, it looks like places are still open. So if you want want the chance to be a "guinea pig" (with free Terminal 5 goodies) sign up here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, February 06, 2008 Permalink

Interview with a Mole

Many thanks to Mike (aka Sizemore) who interviewed me for TrustedPlaces.com.


If you want to find out a bit more about sites I like, what I like most about the London Underground, what's on my mp3 player and what my favourite Tube station is, check out the interview.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, February 06, 2008 Permalink

Tube Strike Threat

Ah, only February and we've got our first threat of an all out London Underground strike.

Unions representing 7,500 workers on the system demanded talks with the LU management to resolve ``serious and fundamental'' disagreements over safety and staffing.


The issues include the use of temporary workers, the closing of 40 station ticket offices and rules calling for lone workers to staff some stations. The RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport Union & TSSA (the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association) said said they may ask members to vote on a strike if LU don't agree to schedule negotiations to resolve the issues.

RMT leader Bob Crow said "Each of these issues is serious in its own right, but together they amount to a fundamental and unacceptable attack on staffing across the network,"

In the same statement TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said: "Tube users should be as appalled as our members at the amount of safety issues outstanding, and I hope they will understand that LUL's refusal to discuss these issues in the round left us with no choice but to tell the company that we are now in dispute,".

According to Bloomberg London Underground said the disagreement can be resolved through the 'normal negotiating process,'. "That process has not broken down and it would be totally unreasonable to curtail it by threats of strike action," an LU spokesperson said.

I'm sure more news will develop throughout the day as more new sources get statements from the unions and London Underground.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, February 05, 2008 Permalink

Upgrades for pregnant rail travellers

Although it's not Tube related, I wanted to unearth one of those very well kept rail travel secrets that might be of help to anyone pregnant.

On First Capital Connect trains, if you're pregnant and have a Standard Class Season Ticket, you can get a free upgrade to "First Class "accommodation" (I love that word, I personally never think of train carriages as accommodation - but hey ho), where available, on First Capital Connect services covered by your Season Ticket".


Full details on their website in the penultimate heading on this page.

I saw a hair pulling-out discussion of the fairness or un-PC-ness of this on another site. A lot of the arguments were also about Mother & Baby magazine's initial reporting of this which incorrectly said it applies to all National Rail travel.

Personally, I think it's great news that the system exists on at least one rail service. At the same time, it's a pretty sad state of affairs that we still have to have notices around asking people to give up seats to pregnant women and others who look like they need a seat more than you.

I know there's a number of people who don't look like they need to sit but have various conditions which makes standing difficult, but that doesn't apply to 90% of people in carriages. I know a number of us have our heads in papers and genuinely don't see pregnant women getting on trains - but again that's not 100% of the carriage. I know people worry about offending women by offering seats - but I'd rather risk offending someone and offer a seat. I don't look pregnant but occasionally (and I mean very, very occasionally) get offered a seat just because I'm a woman and I don't see it as offensive or that years of Women's Lib has been thrown out of the window. However, that doesn't mean I think it's a god given right for all women to be given seats.


It may just be the carriages that I'm on, but I find it's usually other women that offer seats to those pregnant or the elderly (male or female) and they're not prompted to do this because the pregnant one is wearing a "Baby on Board" badge. To me it's just a sense of looking out for other people who might be having a harder time on the train than yourself.

Anyway, I hope other rail services follow First Capital Connect's lead and roll out this service.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, February 05, 2008 Permalink

Shepherd's Bush Tube closed for 8 months

Good luck on your new journey, if you're one of the 20,000 daily commuters who use Shepherd's Bush station on the Central Line. From 2nd February the station will be closed for eight months while the 80 year escalators are replaced and a larger ticket hall is constructed.


London Underground said that escalators can't be installed without a full closure. However, local businesses & residents are pissed off as the escalators were not due to be replaced for four years, by which time all of the extra transport modernisation & additions around that area would have meant the closure wouldn't have had such an impact.

Although I live in West London, I don't use the Bush Central Line station a lot and probably use the one on the Hammersmith & City Line (ten minutes walk away) much more. I'm sure some people are going to say, "Typical Londoners moaning about having an extra 10 minute walk to a neighbouring station". But it's more than that. That Ham & City station is going to be bursting, it'll effect people's journeys who get on later down that line, plus interchanges are going to be a lot busier.


Andrew Slaughter, Labour MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush, described the station's closure as "unprecedented". He told the BBC: "This is a classic case of big corporations doing the dirty on the little guy - both local independent businesses and the thousands of commuters who use this station every day".

I'd be interested in hearing your views on the closure, particularly if you regularly use that station. Plus if you want a reminder of what the station looked like on its last day check out Drew Post's gallery.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, February 03, 2008 Permalink

Commuters at Grand Central Station Frozen in Time

You may remember a "flash mob" event at Victoria station last April, where hundreds of people joined to all dance to iPods, personal stereos or whatever, at the same point in time.


Now the guys at ImprovEverywhere (the "pesky pranksters" behind the annual No Pants Subway Ride) have taken the opposite approach. They got over 200 people to stop in their tracks at New York's Grand Central Station. It's their very own semi Heroes moment, as people are frozen in time, while everyone goes about their normal commuting business ..... or not?


Thanks to Pedro for sending this through to me.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, February 03, 2008 Permalink

Are you a considerate passenger?

Look out for some cartoon characters on posters on the London Underground and buses from 1st February, aimed at encouraging us to be more considerate passengers.

TfL's site says: 'The Londoners' are distinct animated characters each sporting t-shirts with a specific pledge aimed to encourage considerate behaviour when travelling in London.

Their pledges include:

* "I will offer my seat"
* "I won't play my music out loud"
* "I'll try to remember what it's like to be 14 again"

When I first read the last pledge I was more than a bit puzzled. Surely if you remember what it's like to be 14 again when you're travelling on public transport, you'll be shouting, trying to have a sly fag and fare dodging. Unless it means we're supposed to have some sympathy for teens.


Sheriff Ken Livingstone says: "We can all do things in all innocence when travelling which come across as thoughtless. We're asking all Londoners to think before playing loud music or just bounding down the aisles.

"We'll all feel better about sharing the morning commute, the journey to school, the local shopping trip and coming home after a night out. It's about Londoners talking to Londoners. If we all take responsibility for our own actions, it can make a difference to all of our lives"

There's a short film directed by Oscar nominated Mike Figgis which will be showing in cinemas across London to drum the points home. I love Mike Figgis and thought that Leaving Las Vegas was amazing, but I really wasn't convinced by this film. I wonder how much artistic / creative licence Figgis was given for this, and whether the TfL powers that be turned it into a film made by committee.

I'm all for people being more considerate of others on public transport, but for me, the film and these particular cute cartoon characters don't work.

Maybe it's because I'm not a teenager. Maybe it's because I've seen these campaigns year after year after year and thought others were much better (I loved the "love is" characters from an old campaign - see image on the right).

It seems a waste of Figgis' talent specially as I bet he wasn't that cheap to hire. I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 01, 2008 Permalink

Tube Thriller Video

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a group of dancers decided to put on a performance in a London Underground train. Without any initial fanfare they casually get up from their seats and the result's below:


This has now gone mad on YouTube & US TV with people commenting about how many people on the carriage are trying to pretend nothing unusual is going on. It's just typical Tube behaviour. A friend once said that "You could ride an elephant through the Tube and no one would be particularly surprised".

Personally, I wish they'd spent more time focussing on the passengers' non reaction than the dancing - but that maybe just me. Thanks to my friend Gia and Marc for emailing me about this.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, February 01, 2008 Permalink