Jack Smith, 25, an NHS worker from Clapham, said; “I was on the platform and the Tube was pulling away when I heard this prolonged scream from 20m down the platform.
“There were loads of women around her screaming and pointing. The driver put on the emergency breaks (sic) and we were all evacuated.
“Those platforms are too narrow and there’s just not enough space for it to cope with those numbers of people in the morning.
“Everyone was piling on the buses. It was just so busy.”I can vouch for this, having had several meetings in central London recently and having to travel in rush hour. The crush at pinch points (like platforms & escalators) and general overcrowding is appalling.
It’s ironic, too, that this comes at a time when the police are being castigated for management of similar dangerous overcrowding at Hillsborough…
James Callen, a corporate services executive, said: “We were slightly further down the platform, but as the Tube pulled in people inevitably shuffled forward and the woman was pushed under the tube.
“There were horrendous screams coming from her and the people who were standing around her. We were ushered out pretty quickly and it was complete chaos a lot of people were crying as well.
“The station was closed and an ambulance and two fire engines arrived very quickly. People just started to walk across the common as queues for buses were hundreds of people long. I managed to share a cab with three other people who had been on the platform at the time.
“It’s so dangerous in the morning. I am surprised it doesn’t happen more often.”Me too.
And you have to ask just why there’s time to focus on fripperies like all-night running of the Tube, and yet none to spare for tackling the dangerous overcrowding that already exists. No venue would be allowed to open if it anticipated numbers it couldn’t handle, yet – just as with the disability access law – the Tube gets a pass due to the impossibility of complying with the legislation.
And it’s a salient point that those who demand Open Borders for all never, ever seem to worry about the inevitable impact on travel and transport (or housing, services, etc).
"the Tube gets a pass due to the impossibility of complying with the legislation."
ReplyDeleteIt is not impossible. I vaguely remember using an underground somewhere probably not London where automatic gates at platform entrances opened and closed to stop overcrowding on platforms.
They also appear to ignore the dangers of over crowding ON the trains.
ReplyDeleteIf Moorfields happened now, they would need to send the local slaughter house wagons and FORGET the Fire brigade.
It was bad enough then. Now it would be pure tinned haggis.
I am usually the only Briton on my home leg. I wonder why the trains are so crowded.
ReplyDeleteAs Furor says, at peak times. the trains are meat-packing units. Having said that, in Germany, I usually pay the first-class supplement but this does not always work, for the inspectors can't get on when the trains are packed and people barge into 1st class anyway.
The Tube signalling system is run through mechanical switches, an it is no wonder that the detritus (left by the detritus all over the place) blows into them and interrupts them.
Using the German system of electromagnetic switching and my novel method of summary execution of anyone leaving litter would allow us to run trains more frequently.
Passengers attempting to enter the train too late and causing the doors to re-open can be simply attached to the end of the train by a stout rope, ensuring that they did not miss their train, and that they did not delay 300 other people because their journey was so important.
XX I usually pay the first-class supplement XX
ReplyDeleteOnly works on the inter citys.
Our tube can get similar to London.
Wose here are the busses.
M58/M48 in Berlin, by the time they reach Innsbruckerplatz, you can LITTERALY not move for standing passengers and stupid women with Humvee like prams full of bastards.
If one of those went on fire, which is NOT unusual, it would be the Kentucky hog roast of the century.
Na! Moorgate.
ReplyDeleteNOT Moorfields!
"It is not impossible. I vaguely remember using an underground somewhere probably not London where automatic gates at platform entrances opened and closed to stop overcrowding on platforms."
ReplyDeleteMaybe that was in a much more polite country than the UK?
"If Moorfields happened now, they would need to send the local slaughter house wagons and FORGET the Fire brigade."
Very true! Mind you, the packed nature of the carriages would at least stop you from being flung around...
"I am usually the only Briton on my home leg. I wonder why the trains are so crowded."
*gasp* UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH ALERT!
"...and stupid women with Humvee like prams full of bastards."
ReplyDeleteOh, we have that here too. Plus cyclopaths ignoring the 'cycles not carried in rush hour' signs :/