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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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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 COMMENT HERE
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