20-05-2025
Daylight robbery: how a train company tried to block out the sun
As austerity measures go, this might just be the gloomiest of all time: a rail company has been accused of cutting daylight to save money.
Southeastern Railway papered over the windows on a footbridge between Waterloo and Waterloo East stations because, according to station staff, it was too expensive to have them cleaned.
The effect of masking the windows has been to transform an already uninspiring leg of the commute into a morose trudge through a pall of murky, yellow light.
On Monday night, after a phone call from The Times and accusations of 'daylight robbery' from commuters, the coverings were abruptly removed.
Stuart Collings, one of the tens of thousands of commuters who use the route every day, had written on X: 'How to