Significant increase in Tube graffiti
Reports of increased graffiti on Tube trains, in particular on the Central and Bakerloo lines, have prompted Londoners to complain to the transport authority.One passenger told Transport for London (TfL) that the Bakerloo line's carriages had become "very dirty" and "covered" in graffiti. In a Freedom of Information request, passengers asked what was being done to clean them.Earlier this month, TfL said in response that its automatic train washer breaking down was partly to blame, but added that it had also seen an uptick in vandalism incidents.
The washer issue "limited our cleaning capacity as we were only able to clean trains by hand which takes a significantly longer amount of time", TfL said.It added: "The track defect was rectified approximately two weeks ago and since then we have been using the train wash as normal. All our fleet has been washed externally and the overall condition of the fleet is beginning to improve."Seats across the Underground fleet are brushed and checked daily prior and post going into service."Despite this, TfL said it was were seeing an increase in graffiti incidents, and City Hall has urged the authority to adopt "a zero-tolerance strategy" to vandalism.
Central line 'clearly being targeted'
Bassam Mahfouz, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said he heard about the issue through his Ealing and Hillingdon constituents, who regularly use the Central line."The recent surge in graffiti on Central line trains is concerning and costly," said Mr Mahfouz. "Londoners have become used to, and deserve, a clean, safe, and reliable transport network, yet these vandalised carriages are an affront to the eye and leave passengers feeling less safe."The Central line is clearly being targeted. It's costing Londoners in clean-up costs and pride in our city. The only way to really address such a scourge is to adopt a zero-tolerance strategy to stamp out graffiti for good. "Only then can we restore the Central line to the standard passengers expect and ensure London's transport system remains a source of pride, not frustration."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Person dies on Elizabeth Line with disruption expected to last into rush hour
A person has died following an incident at a west London train station after police found a person on the tracks on Monday morning. While services have now reopened on the line that connects Heathrow to the city, the incident has caused severe disruption across the Elizabeth line and other services and is not expected to be resolved until later today. The British Transport Police (BTP) said in a statement: "Officers were called at around 11am today (9 June) to reports of a casualty on the tracks at Hanwell railway station. "Officers responded, but sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene. "The incident is not being treated as suspicious, and a file will be prepared for the coroner." Police have not released further details on the incident or the cause of death at this time. Travel disruption on the line has followed, with severe delays on the Paddington to Heathrow/Reading route due to an 'early customer incident' as of Monday afternoon, Transport for London (TfL) said. TfL also said there were minor delays between Paddington and Abbey Wood, while there is good service on the rest of the line. National Rail said: 'The emergency services have completed their work between London Paddington and Southall, allowing all lines to reopen.' It added that disruption is expected until 4pm on Monday. Trains running between Paddington and Heathrow Airport/Reading may still be cancelled, revised or delayed by up to 30 minutes while services recover. Great Western Railway routes to and from Paddington and the Heathrow Express between Paddington and the airport have also been affected. Customers have been advised that they can use their Elizabeth line ticket at no extra cost on the Underground, DLR, London buses and local Slough and Reading buses. Tickets can also be used on Great Western Railway, Southeastern, South Western Railway and Thameslink on certain routes usually served by the Elizabeth line. Hanwell Station is situated between West Ealing and Southall in west London. Many commuters and travellers pass through the station on the Elizabeth line and other services to and from Heathrow Airport.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Watch: Cyclists run red lights at roundabout as Khan pledges £6m to protect them
Sir Sadiq Khan's Transport for London (TfL) claims it is a death trap for cyclists. That is why one of London's busiest roundabouts is about to undergo a £6 million revamp with a large protective cycle lane to assuage concerns that it is 'unsafe and intimidating'. But a campaign group's footage appear to show cyclists wilfully putting themselves in harm's way, prompting the group to ask why it is drivers who will now be penalised. Save Our Streets (SOS) says it has proof that more than half of cyclists crossing at the busy junction are going through red lights. Video footage shows a string of cyclists passing through traffic lights, stopping inside a yellow box area and narrowly avoiding being struck by passing buses. Some can be seen riding across the six-lane interchange in front of oncoming traffic. Transport for London wants to revamp the Holland Park roundabout under plans to encourage people to 'walk and cycle more and drive less'. TfL says there have been 'a significant number of collisions' in which 59 people, including 14 cyclists and pedestrians, were hurt in the three years up to May 2023. 'Complete waste of money' But Nicholas Bell, a Holland Park resident and cyclist himself, said the scheme was a 'complete waste of money'. He monitored the roundabout to examine the behaviour of cyclists and counted more than 1,000 using the roundabout over four separate days in April, during the morning and evening rush hours. About one in seven pedal bikes and two in five e-bikes entering the roundabout from Uxbridge Road on the roundabout's western arm jumped the lights in their determination to get across as quickly as possible, Mr Bell found. His weekday counts revealed that more than half of cyclists approaching from Holland Park Avenue, on the roundabout's eastern side, illegally passed through red lights. 'I thought cyclists would be more hesitant at a major junction. I was quite surprised how gung-ho they were,' he said. Danny Lidgate, another campaigner, who runs the 175-year-old butcher's shop C Lidgate on Holland Park Avenue, agreed that building more cycle infrastructure when riders already ignore current provision was a waste of time and money. He said he feared TfL's plans would lead to the area around Holland Park and Shepherd's Bush railway station becoming 'jammed up with traffic'. He said: 'All the customers we have coming into our shop, and all the local residents, they all feel the same.' Revamp will be 'misery' for residents Andrew Boff, the Conservative deputy chairman of the London Assembly, said on a visit to the roundabout with The Telegraph: 'They're going to make life in this area and all around for the residents absolute misery.' Mr Boff said he would tell the mayor of London, whose Vision Zero scheme is driving projects such as the Holland Park roundabout cycle lanes: 'Why don't you pause for breath and actually deliver a scheme that's good for cyclists? 'Focus on where your problem is, and not trying to create year zero at Holland Park roundabout by throwing everything out and then starting again.' Helen Cansick, TfL's head of healthy streets investment planning, said: 'The Holland Park roundabout is an unsafe and intimidating junction for people cycling, and the changes at the roundabout have been carefully designed to tackle road danger while enabling everyone to travel through the area efficiently. 'The results of our consultation showed strong support for the proposed changes. We always take congestion, including impact on bus journey times and air quality, into careful consideration when designing schemes, and we value feedback from local residents and businesses. 'We will continue to engage with the local community as we move forward with these important safety measures. 'Everyone using the roads must obey the law and follow the Highway Code and we continue to work closely with the police to enforce the rules of the road.'
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Telegraph
‘It's getting silly': The influencers teaching commuters how to fare-dodge
TikTok influencers are promoting fare-dodging on the London Underground in viral 'bumping' videos that have racked up millions of views. In dozens of videos seen by The Telegraph, TikTok users show off by pushing through the barriers at Transport for London (TfL) stations and other rail services, a practice known as 'bumping' on the app. One account holder had uploaded more than 50 videos of them skipping the barriers at different Underground stations. A video with 72,000 views celebrated 'bumping from London to Scotland by train'. Some clips have attracted hundreds of comments celebrating different techniques for squeezing through the barriers. Another with 128,000 views showed off 'TfL hacks', including codes for opening gates at stations. In one video, a masked TikTok user who has just jumped a station barrier says: 'At what age are we gonna stop bumping trains? It's getting silly.' He suggests he might start paying rail fares when he is 25. 'Normalised' Earlier this week, a government report found that rail staff feared fare-dodging had become 'normalised' and was viewed by offenders as a 'victimless crime'. A report from the Office of Road and Rail said: 'As well as occasional opportunistic fare evaders, there are some individuals who use a range of techniques to persistently underpay and avoid their fares.' Staff reported being met with 'aggressive and abusive behaviour' when trying to check the tickets of fare-dodgers. Some videos on TikTok showed fare-dodgers filming their interactions with station staff, goading them or trying to talk their way out of paying for fares. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'There is an epidemic of fare-dodging in this country. Yobs are laughing at working people who do the right thing. It's a disgrace. I am sick to my back teeth of it – the authorities need to be shamed into action.' Last week Mr Jenrick filmed himself confronting fare-dodgers at Stratford Station amid growing public anger that petty crime is going unpunished. Writing for The Telegraph last week, he said: 'I watched as people flooded through an empty barrier, while the enforcement officer was on his backside, feet up, watching on. It was a perfect encapsulation of Broken Britain. 'For ordinary hard-working citizens travelling into work on their morning commute, the sight of somebody slipping through the barriers without paying is a slap in the face.' However, on TikTok, many commenters praised the barrier-jumpers, encouraging them to try to dodge-fares at other stations. Some videos included people vandalising the barriers at stations. One video seen by The Telegraph was captioned: 'My excuse for bumping is that I don't support TfL funding. Bumping is a choice, I'm not broke.' Some channels are entirely dedicated to 'bumping'. One explains to uses 'how to bump narrow gates' on National Rail. The video says to wait until there is an 'influx' so the 'guards are distracted and s---'. It then says fare-dodgers should 'scope out your victim', follow behind them and cover the sensor on the gate. The user says 'follow for more bumping guides'. £400m a year The Government has said that fare-dodging costs the taxpayer £400m per year. Failure to pay on the Underground can result in a £100 fine, although this is halved if paid within 21 days. Deliberately dodging fares is a criminal offence and can lead to a criminal record and fines of up to £1,000. Sir Sadiq Khan has been expanding a team of professional investigators at TfL to catch persistent fare-dodgers. The transport authority has a target of halving fare-evasion by 2030. It is estimated that passengers avoid paying for up to 3.4pc of all TfL journeys. TikTok has long struggled with users sharing videos of petty criminal activity or extreme pranks to bolster their online following. Last year, The Telegraph found evidence of gangsters advertising for cannabis farmers on TikTok. People smugglers have also used the app to recruit people for small boat crossings. Influencers have meanwhile undertaken increasingly extreme pranks, such as a wave of TikTok users posting videos of themselves trespassing in people's homes. After The Telegraph reported the videos to TikTok, the social media app took many of them offline. Siwan Hayward, TfL's director of security, policing and enforcement, said: 'Fare evasion is unacceptable. That is why we are strengthening our capability to deter and detect fare evaders, including expanding our team of professional investigators to target the most prolific fare evaders across the network. 'This builds on the work of our team of more than 500 uniformed officers already deployed across the network to deal with fare evasion and other anti-social behaviour, keeping staff and customers safe.'
