LU Capital Programmes Director Why escalator and lift work takes time Did you know that the escalators in shopping centres, supermarkets and department stores are different from the escalators you use on the Tube network? They are generally used by customers during opening hours only. Because of this, they are built to cope with lower passenger loadings compared to a public transport escalator. Escalators and lifts on the Tube network are used by far more customers - 1.265 billion a year. They tend to be in operation in both directions for a period of up to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, 364 days a year. The machinery required to operate these escalators and lifts is therefore classed as heavy engineering machinery. It allows for reliable regular use by customers Escalator and lift replacement and refurbishment can be a lengthy process. This is due to the size and difficulty of the task: Escalators are heavy-duty machines, custom built for each station Parts have to be manufactured from scratch and installed deep underground in confined spaces The escalator parts can only be delivered in the short Engineering hours slot, because of their size.

If they were to be delivered during operating hours, they would end up being in the way of customers and compromising off-loading restrictions on the size of these deliveries via road in London Old escalators have often supported other structures which need to be carefully managed during replacement and refurbishment works A typical heavy-duty escalator weighs 40 tonnes and has a vertical rise of 15 metres. If laid flat, it would be over 37 metres long Typically, there are six to seven (maximum 20) people working on an escalator on each shift, two shifts per day, six or seven days per week For a typical 15-metre rise escalator, there are approximately 15,000 moving parts In some stations, the escalators were installed before the Second World War and actually form part of the station structure. This was the case at Embankment, where considerable structural modernisation was required to create enough space to fit a new escalator.

New, custom-built machines ensure a reliable escalator service for many decades to come All Tube escalators have full communication, fire detection and suppression systems which are required to be tested and declared operational before they can be used by the public Lift replacement work often takes place deep underground, in cramped lift shafts Due to the nature of the work it can take a number of months to complete. We're always looking at ways to reduce disruption to customers while we undertake lift and escalator refurbishment and replacement. For example, we will sometimes replace more than one lift at a time to reduce the overall time they are unavailable.

Tube facts Our lifts and escalators run 20 hours, and sometimes 24 hours, a day in support of work at stations in traffic hours There are 423 escalators and 196 lifts across the Tube network Our busiest lifts at stations such as Covent Garden will carry up to 80,000 people a day through the station Over its 40-year lifespan, an escalator will travel the equivalent distance of a trip to the moon and back Our lifts can hold up to 50 people and travel up to four metres per second Our escalators travel up to 0.75 metres per second, faster than the 0.5 metres per second in escalators used in shops and department stores Landing lengths on our escalators are longer than those in department stores to allow for the high speed at which our escalators operate Waterloo has the most escalators of any station with 23 The longest escalator - 60 metres - is at Angel. The shortest is at Stratford - just 4.1 metres The deepest lift shaft is at Hampstead - 55.2 metres. The shortest is at King's Cross St. Pancras - 2.3 metres.

See exclusive behind the scenes updates on all our Tube improvements on Twitter #TubeImprovements and our TfL and Tube Facebook pages. London Underground: 150 fascinating Tube facts - Telegraph Telegraph 150 London Underground facts (including the birth of Jerry Springer in East Finchley station) It's closed today, but it's still interesting Credit: John Stillwell Jolyon Attwooll , Travel writer 9 January 2017 • 11:00am You can't ride it today, thanks to industrial action. But you can learn a few things about the Tube instead. 1. There is only one Tube station which does not have any letters of the word 'mackerel' in it: St John's Wood. 2. The average speed on the Underground is 20.5 miles per hour including station stops. 3. The busiest Tube station is Waterloo, which was used by around 95 million passengers in 2015. In 2014 Oxford Circus took top spot, in 2009 it was Victoria, and in 2005 it was King's Cross, 4. On the Metropolitan line, trains can reach over 60mph.

The Night Tube service started on August 19, 2016 Credit: AFP or licensors/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS 5. The shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the underground network is only 260 metres. The tube journey between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly Line takes only about 20 seconds, but costs £4.90 (cash fare). Yet it still remains one of the most popular journeys with tourists. 6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its existence remained an official secret until the 1980s. 7. Angel has the Underground's longest escalator at 60m/197ft, with a vertical rise of 27.5m. 8. The shortest escalator is Stratford, with a vertical rise of 4.1m. 9. Only 45 per cent of the Underground is actually in tunnels. 10.

The longest distance between stations is on the Metropolitan line from Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles. The history of the Tube in pictures 11. The longest continuous tunnel is on the Northern line and runs from East Finchley to Morden (via Bank), a total of 17.3 miles. 12. Aldgate Station, on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, is built on a massive plague pit, where more than 1,000 bodies are buried. 13. The longest journey without change is on the Central line from West Ruislip to Epping, and is a total of 34.1 miles. 14. The deepest station is Hampstead on the Northern line, which runs down to 58.5 metres. 15. In Central London the deepest station below street level is also the Northern line. It is the DLR concourse at Bank, which is 41.4 metres below. Only 45 per cent of the Underground is actually in tunnels 16. The TARDIS, (Dr Who’s transport) can be found outside Earl’s Court station. Or at least an old police call box can.

17. The London Underground manages about 10 per cent of all green spaces in London. 18. Wildlife observed on the Tube network includes woodpeckers, deer, sparrowhawk, bats, grass snakes, great crested newts, slow worms. 19. Over 47 million litres water are pumped from the Tube each day, enough to fill a standard leisure centre swimming pool (25 metres x 10 metres) every quarter of an hour. 20. The London Underground trains were originally steam powered. 21. The station with the most platforms is Baker Street with 10 (Moorgate also has 10 platforms but only six are used by Tube trains - others are used by overground trains). 22.The District Line has the most stations: 60. There are 270 stations on the network Credit: Dominic Lipinski 23. The Waterloo and City Line has the fewest stations (no intermediate stations) 24. The Underground name first appeared on stations in 1908. 25. London Underground has been known as the Tube since 1890 due to the shape of the tunnels. 26.

The first deep-level electric railway line also opened in 1890. 27. The Tube's logo is known as “the roundel” (a red circle crossed by a horizontal blue bar) 28. The station with the most escalators is Waterloo with 23. 29. The total number of passengers carried during 2013/14 was 1.265 billion – making it the world's 11th busiest metro. 30. The highest station above sea level is Amersham, at 147 metres. What we love about the London Underground 31. Tube trains travelled 76.4 million kilometres last year. 32. The Northern line has the highest maximum number of trains required for scheduled peak period service: 91. The Tube's logo is known as “the roundel” Credit: Reuters Photographer 33. The Waterloo & City line has the fewest scheduled for peak period service at just five. 34. The total length of the London Underground network is 250 miles. 35. In 1926, suicide pits were installed beneath tracks due to a rise in the numbers of passengers throwing themselves in front of trains.

36. The eastern extension of the Jubilee line is the only Underground line to feature glass screens to deter "jumpers". 37. The earliest trains run from Osterley to Heathrow on the Piccadilly line, starting at 4.45am. 38. The greatest elevation above the ground level is on the Northern line at Dollis Brook viaduct over Dollis road, Mill Hill: it rises a total of 18 metres (60ft). 39. One of the early names proposed for the Victoria Line was the Viking line. 40. In 1924, the first baby was born on the Underground, on a train at Elephant & Castle on the Bakerloo line. The Tube's prettiest stations 41. The American talk show host Jerry Springer was born at East Finchley during the Second World War: his mother had taken shelter in the station from an air raid. 42. Builders working on the Bakerloo Line are reported to have suffered from the bends while tunnelling under the Thames. 43. The inaugural journey of the first Central line train in 1900 had the Prince of Wales and Mark Twain on board.

The total length of the London Underground network is 250 miles Credit: PA 44. The tunnels beneath the City curve significantly because they follow its medieval street plan. 45. The Central line introduced the first flat fare when it opened at the turn of the 20th century. The tuppence fare lasted until the end of June 1907 when a threepenny fare was introduced for longer journeys. 46. Charles Pearson, MP and Solicitor to the City of London, is credited with successfully campaigning for the introduction of the Underground. He died in 1862 shortly before the first train ran. 47. The first escalator on the Underground was installed at Earl's Court in 1911. 48. The first crash on the Tube occurred in 1938 when two trains collided between Waterloo and Charing Cross, injuring 12 passengers. 49. Harry Beck produced the well known Tube map diagram while working as an engineering draughtsman at the London Underground Signals Office. He was reportedly paid 10 guineas (£10.50) for his efforts. 50.

Harry Beck’s map was considered too big a departure from the norm, but the public liked it and it became official in 1933. 51. Busking has been licensed on the Tube since 2003. 52. Sting and Paul McCartney are both rumoured to have busked on the Underground in disguise. 53. The phrase "Mind the gap" dates back to 1968. The recording that is broadcast on stations was first done by Peter Lodge, who had a recording company in Bayswater. A photo posted by bologna|2001|galvani (@_f_r_e_0_1_) on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:53am PDT 54. The Peter Lodge recording of “Mind the Gap” is still in use, but some lines use recordings by a Manchester voice artist Emma Clarke. On the Piccadilly line the recording is notable for being the voice of Tim Bentinck, who plays David Archer in The Archers. 55.

The Jubilee Line was the only Underground Line to connect with all the others until the East London line ceased to be part of the Underground in 2007 (now the Central Line does too). 56. Approximately 50 passengers a year kill themselves on the Underground. 57. Fewer than 10 per cent of Tube stations lie south of the Thames. 58. The total number of lifts on the Underground, including four stair lifts, is 167. Ye Olde London Underground Credit: Getty 59. Smoking was banned on the Underground as a result of the King's Cross fire in November 1987 which killed 31 people. A discarded match was thought to be the cause of that inferno. 60. An estimated half a million mice live in the Underground system. London's lost Tube stations: in pictures 61. 1961 marked the end of steam and electric haulage of passenger trains on the London Underground. 62. One of the levels in Tomb Raider 3 is set in the disused Aldwych tube station, featuring scenes of Lara Croft killing rats. 63.

In the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Hogwarts headmaster has a scar that resembles a map of the London Underground on his knee. 64.There are only two tube station names that contain all five vowels: Mansion House, and South Ealing. 65. Edward Johnston designed the font for the London Underground in 1916. The font he came up with is still in use today. 66. Amersham is also the most westerly tube station, as well as the highest (see above). 67. A macabre statistic is that the most popular tube suicide time is around 11am. 68. In January 2005, in an attempt to alleviate a problem with loitering young people, the London Underground announced it would play classical music at problem stations. Which buildings survived the Great Fire of London? 69. The Underground has the oldest section of underground railway in the world, which opened in 1863. 70. The first section of the Underground ran between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street. The same section now forms part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines.

London Underground: 10 of the funniest videos 71.The Underground was first used for air raid shelters in September 1940. 72. During the Second World War, part of the Piccadilly line (Holborn - Aldwych branch), was closed and British Museum treasures were stored in the empty spaces. 73. The London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and became the London Transport Executive in 1948. 74. The first Tube tunnel was opened in 1880, running from the Tower of London to Bermondsey. 75. The Central Line used to be nicknamed as the 'Twopenny Tube' for its flat fare. 76. Dot matrix train destination indicators were introduced onto London Underground platforms in 1983. 77. The single worst accident in terms of fatalities on the Underground occurred on February 28, 1975 at Moorgate, when 42 people died. 78. The Piccadilly line extended to serve Heathrow Terminal 4 in 1986. 79. Penalty fares were only introduced in 1994. 80.

The Tube carried one billion passengers in a year for the first time in 2007. London Underground quiz 81.The last manually operated doors on Tube trains (replaced by air-operated doors) were phased out in 1929. 82.The Jubilee Line was named to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 – but the line did not open until 1979. A photo posted by Merve (@lknmerve) on Aug 1, 2016 at 12:25pm PDT 83. A census carried out on September 27, 1940, found that 177,500 Londoners were sleeping in Tube stations. 84. During the war, special supply trains ran, providing seven tonnes of food and 2,400 gallons of tea and cocoa every night to people staying in the Tube. 85. Covent Garden is believed to be haunted by the ghost of William Terris who met an untimely death near the station in 1897. 86. Another station that is believed to be haunted is Farringdon.

The so-called Screaming Spectre is believed to have been a milliner. 87. The Seven Sisters Underground station is believed to have been named after a line of elm trees which stood nearby until the 1830s. 88. The fictitious station of Walford East, which features in the long-running soap opera Eastenders, is supposed to be on the District Line. 89. Every week, Underground escalators travel the equivalent distance of going twice around the world. 90. According to TFL, London Underground trains travel a total of 1,735 times around the world (or 90 trips to the moon and back) each year. 91. A spiral escalator was installed in 1907 at Holloway Road station, but linear escalators were favoured for the rest of the network. A small section of the spiral escalator is in the Acton depot. 92. A small section of the old London Wall survives in the trackside walls of Tower Hill station at platform level. One of the largest pieces of the wall also stands just outside this station. 93.

Finsbury Park station has murals that show a pair of duelling pistols, harking back to a time when men would visit the park after hours to defend their honour. The Jubilee line receives the most complaints Credit: © Pixel Youth movement / Alamy Stock Photo/Pixel Youth movement / Alamy Stock Photo 94. In 2012, the most complained about line was the Jubilee. 95. The London Underground is thought to be the third largest metro system in the world, in terms of miles, after the Beijing Subway and the Shanghai Metro. 96. The London Underground is the third busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow and Paris. 97. The coffin of Dr. Thomas Barnardo was carried in funeral cortege on an underground train in 1905, one of only two occasions this is known to have happened. 98. The Underground helped over 200,000 children escape to the countryside during the Second World War. 99. During the war, some stations (now mostly disused) were converted into government offices: a station called Down Street was used for meetings of the Railway Executive Committee, as well as for the War Cabinet before the Cabinet War Rooms were built.

100. Brompton Road (now disused) on the Piccadilly, Line was apparently used as a control room for anti-aircraft guns. 101. Only five London Underground stations lie outside the M25 motorway The Night Tube is finally here Credit: AFP or licensors/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS 102. The Underground runs 24 hours a day at New Year, during special events (such as for the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics), and on selected lines at the weekend. 103. According to a 2002 study air quality on the Underground was 73 times worse than at street level, with 20 minutes on the Northern Line having "the same effect as smoking a cigarette". 104. The former poet laureate John Betjeman created 'Metroland' series, a homage to the people and places served by the Metropolitan line in 1973. Ride the Emirates Air Line cable car with this 360° video 105. The Oyster card was introduced in 2003. 106.

The worst civilian death toll on the Underground occurred at Bethnal Green Tube tragedy in 1943, when 173 people died. It is the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network. 107. The largest number of people killed by a single wartime bomb was 68 at Balham Station. 108. The 100th anniversary of the roundel (the Tube Logo) was celebrated in 2008 by TfL commissioning 100 artists to produce works that celebrate the design. 109. The largest Tube car park is at Epping and has 599 parking spots. 110. The Central Line has the most tube stations with no surface building (Bank, Bethnal Green, Chancery Lane, Gants Hill, Notting Hill Gate) 111. Of the stations that have stairs, Hampstead Station has the most steps (320 in total). 112. There are 14 journeys between stations that take less than a minute on average. 113. King's Cross St Pancras tube station is served by more Underground lines than any other station on the network. 114.

Seven London Boroughs are not served by the underground system, six of them being situated south of the River Thames. 115. The total number of carriages in London Underground's fleet, as of January 2013, was 4,134. 116. The total number of stations served on the network is 270. 117. London Underground transferred from the control of the Government to Transport for London (TfL) on July 15, 2003. 118. Scenes from the film Sliding Doors were shot at Waterloo station on the Waterloo & City Line and at Fulham Broadway tube station on the District Line. 119. Filming on location in the Underground costs £500 per hour (plus VAT) unless you have a crew of less than five. 120. You can now no longer go around the Circle Line in a full circle. From 2009, the Circle Line terminated at Edgware Road. 121. Greenford on the Central Line was the last Tube station to use wooden escalators. They were replaced in 2014. 122.

Arsenal (originally Gillespie Road) on Piccadilly line is the only station named after a football team. 123. There are three tube stations on the Monopoly board: Liverpool Street Station, King’s Cross and Marylebone. Watch | How to land at Britain's trickiest airport 03:57 124. The number of stations that only use escalators is 12 125. Nineteen stations just use lifts. 126. The River Westbourne was funnelled above a platform on Sloane Square in a large iron pipe suspended from girders. It remains in place today. 127. The first tube station to be demolished was Westbourne Park on the Metropolitan Line. It was re-sited in 1871. 128. There is a mosquito named after the Tube – the London Underground mosquito, which was found in the London Underground. It was notable for its assault of Londoners sleeping in the Underground during the Blitz. 129.The London Underground Film Office handles over 200 requests a month. 130.

In Alfred Hitchcock’s first feature film The Lodger (1926) featured the director making a cameo on the Tube. 131. The record for visiting all the stations on the London Underground network – known as the Tube Challenge – is currently held by Ronan McDonald and Clive Burgess of the United Kingdom, who completed the challenge in 16 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds on February 19, 2015 132. The Tube Challenge record did not appear in the Guinness book of records until its eighth edition in 1960, when it stood at 18 hours, 35 minutes. 133. An interactive novel has been published, set on the London Underground. You can read it here . 134. In cockney rhyming slang, the London Underground is known as the Oxo (Cube/Tube). 135. Around 30,000 passengers went on The Metropolitan Line on its first day of public business – January 10, 1863. 136.

There were claims the first baby born on the Underground was called Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would have read TUBE) but this story later proved false – her actual name was Marie Cordery. London brunch 137. On August 3 2012, during the Olympic Games, the London Underground had its most hectic day ever, carrying 4.4 million passengers – but that record was beaten on Friday December 4 2015, when 4.82 million people used it. 138. St James is the only Underground Station to have Grade-I protected status. It includes 55 Broadway, the administrative headquarters of London’s Underground since the 1930s. 139. The most recent Tube birth – a boy – was in 2009. 140. The most common location for filming is Aldwych, a disused station. 141. As Princess Elizabeth, the Queen travelled on the Underground for the first time in May 1939, when she was 13 years old, with her governess Marion Crawford and Princess Margaret.

Apr 30, 2016 at 3:30pm PDT 142. Poems on the Underground was launched in 1986, the idea of American writer Judith Chernaik. 143. A series of animal shapes have also been highlighted in the London Underground map, first discovered by Paul Middlewick in 1988. They're created using the tube lines, stations and junctions of the London Underground map. 144. A fragrance known as Madeleine was trialled at St. James Park, Euston, and Piccadilly stations in 2001, intended to make the Tube more pleasant. It was stopped within days after complaints from people saying they felt ill. 145. There were eight deep-level shelters built under the London Underground in the Second World War. One of them in Stockwell is decorated as a war memorial. 146. After the war, the deep level shelter at Clapham South housed immigrants from the West Indies. 147. A 2011 study suggested 30 per cent of passengers take longer routes due to the out-of-scale distances on the Tube map. 148.

The first ever air-conditioned, walk-through Underground train ran on the Metropolitan line in 2010. 149. The average distance travelled by each Tube train annually stands at around 114,500 miles. 150. Alcohol was banned on the Tube – and all London Transport – from June 2008. Editor's note: Note that one or two facts have changed since this article was first published in 2014 and this has been updated to reflect those changes. The Best Hotels In London The London underground in facts and figures | UK news | The Guardian 150 years of the underground The London underground in facts and figures Which station has the most number of steps? Which is the least used? Who is the most famous person to be born on the tube? Discover the answers in this compendium of tube facts Commuters trying to board an overcrowded Central line train on the London underground. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex Features Chance of any given tube journey resulting in a fatal accident. 2d The original flat-rate fare of the Central London Railway, now the Central line, earning it the nickname "the Tuppenny Tube".

1.171bn Passenger journeys made across the entire London underground last year. 33km per hour Average speed of a tube train, including stops. 9.5% Percentage of customers travelling on open-boarding routes without valid tickets. 50m Tube journeys made annually using a Freedom Pass. 60 metres The length of the tube's longest escalator, at Angel. 270 Number of stations on the London underground. 6.3km The longest distance between two adjacent stations, from Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer. 300m The shortest distance between two adjacent stations, from Leicester Square to Covent Garden. 265 The number of deaths on the tube in the past 10 years (excluding deaths from natural causes and terrorist attacks). 320 Number of steps on the longest journey from surface level to platform, at Hampstead station. Miscellany Tube baby The US talk show host Jerry Springer is the most famous person to have come into the world in a London underground station. He was born at Highgate station on 13 February 1944, where his mother had taken shelter from a Luftwaffe bombing raid.

Tube daddy The father of the modern London underground was solicitor, reformist and parliamentarian Charles Pearson. He proposed the building of an "arcade railway" to run from Farringdon to Kings Cross below street level and successfully campaigned for parliament to authorise its construction. The final plans were not exactly the same, with a cut-and-cover tunnel used instead of his suggested open ditches, but the route was exactly as he had proposed. Pearson died in 1862, a year before the Metropolitan Railway's official opening, but in time to see construction well under way. The stop that never started Keen-eyed passengers riding the Northern Line between Hampstead and Golders Green may have spotted the widened tunnels of North End station. In 1903, believing the area would be developed into houses for new commuters, financier Charles Yerkes's company, Hampstead Tube, began work on North End beneath open farmland north-west of Hampstead Heath. But their plans met fierce local opposition, and in 1904 social reformer Henrietta Barnet purchased the farmland and protected it as the Hampstead Heath Extension.

In 1906, a year before the line was due to open, Yerkes's company abandoned work on its half-built station. The stop that never was kept going, however, and during the second world war a revived North End served as an underground bunker for Churchill's war cabinet. By the time of the cold war, the station had become part of the underground's flood defence system, accessed through an entrance hut disguised as an electricity substation. Now publicly acknowledged, today North End functions as a storehouse for engineers and as one of the tube's many emergency evacuation routes. Tiny tube terrors The mosquitoes in the London underground are genetically different to their cousins on the surface. Tube mosquitoes - or Culex pipiens f. molestus - will bite mice, rats, dogs and, as regular passengers will have noticed, humans. Hence "molestus". Two extremes The least-used station anywhere on the underground is Roding Valley. The busiest is Waterloo, with around 82 million passengers a year. Underground, overground Bank is one of a small number of underground stations with no overground buildings at all.

Bank's original ticket offices were built in the crypt of St Mary Woolnoth, which the church sold to the makers of the Central London Railway for £340,000. The station clock is immortalised in TS Eliot's The Waste Land: "To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours / With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine." Injured passengers are brought up from the tube after the crash at Moorgate station that killed 43 people in 1975. Photograph: Associated Newspapers/Rex Features Fatal Crashes 17 May 1938 A signalling failure on a District line train at Charing Cross station led to the tube's first passenger deaths from a crash since it opened in 1863. Six people were killed and 45 people injured when an eastbound Circle line train hit the back of a stationary Ealing-Barking train in the tunnels between Charing Cross and Temple. 31 December 1945 Two Metropolitan line trains collided in heavy fog on an open-air section of the tube near Northwood.

The impact was not fatal, but electrical arcing led to a fire in the rear two coaches of one of the trains, and three passengers suffocated in the smoke. 8 April 1953 Two trains collided in tunnels just outside Stratford station, resulting in the deaths of 12 passengers. The driver of the offending train claimed he had not seen the tail lights of the train ahead because of a cloud of a dust. The resulting inquiry concluded: "His severe head injuries may have accounted for that statement." 28 February 1975 Forty-three people were killed in mysterious circumstances when a train arriving at Moorgate station accelerated into the tunnel, hit the sand drag, smashed the buffer and thundered into the concrete wall at the end of the line. There was no evidence of malfunction on the train or track and the driver, Leslie Newson, was seen conscious and healthy at the controls seconds before the impact. Coroners returned a verdict of accidental death. There have also been several crashes in which only the drivers of the trains were killed.

WATCH: This is why you should NEVER slide down an escalator at a Tube station | UK | News | Daily Express UK WATCH: This is why you should NEVER slide down an escalator at a Tube station WHEN stuck in a queue of commuters on a long escalator, many have been tempted to take a shortcut and slide down the middle. 17:01, Mon, Feb 15, 2016 | UPDATED: 17:27, Mon, Feb 15, 2016 Most resist the urge but one man, cheered on by his friends, decided to go where few have gone before. With predictably painful results, the 30-year-old man dressed in a pale pink shirt hops onto the metal barrier of the longest escalator on the underground network at Angel Tube station. Whizzing down the 60m long escalator, the man quickly hits a bump - the ironic 'stand on the right' escalator warning sign - catapulting him onto his back and back onto the steel escalator. Related articles Customer's toe CHOPPED OFF by escalator in 'life-changing'...

As he tumbles and falls the remainder of the way his friends cannot control their laughter before going to help their friend who suffered cuts and bruises. Footage of the incident has been viewed around 1.3million times, according to David Bailey who posted the video on Facebook. BAILEY88 The man quickly falls as he slides down the escalator BAILEY88 Cheered on by his friends the man attempts to slide down the 60m escalator We were shocked, he just saw it and thought why not David Bailey Mr Bailey, 27, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, said: "It was the middle of our night out, he had a few beers and it was a total spur of the moment thing. "We didn't expect him to do it but he just jumped up and off he went. "We were shocked, he just saw it and thought why not. BAILEY88 The man is catapulted onto his back after hitting a warning sign "There was a bit of blood and some cuts and bruises but he's fine.

"I didn't expect the video to get this reaction at all, he isn't even bothered that it's online." Despite becoming an online sensation, Transport for London (TfL) bosses have condemned the man's actions. BAILEY88 Dazed and covered in bruises the man stumbles to his feet Mark Evers, Director of Customer Strategy for London Underground (LU), said: “Safety is our top priority and pranks like this are dangerous for not only those involved but also to other customers. "We have frequent PA announcements reminding customers to be careful when using escalators, and we also run safety campaigns throughout the year to encourage customers to take care whilst traveling on our network.” Related articles London Underground: ten of the funniest videos - Telegraph Telegraph London Underground: ten of the funniest videos The London Underground will start a 24-hour service next year 9 January 2013 • 12:00am Going down Just how much did this businessman imbibe prior to attempting – for over two minutes – to walk down the “up” escalator? Skiing Angel Angel station has the longest escalator on the entire network. So, quite understandably, someone decided to ski down it.

One at a time This TFL worker’s attempts to help a tourist couple completely backfire. Taken from BBC2’s excellent documentary The Tube. Wind tunnel This long haired, pot-bellied gentleman takes full advantage of the cooling breeze – much to the amusement of other passengers. Wilde thing Pop singer Kim Wilde and her husband entertain travellers – well, some of them anyway – with a rendition of “Kids in America”, following an evidently boozy Christmas party. Dance master Granted this chap was making a colossal fool of himself, but did he really deserve to be shoved off the train and abused?! Time to snuggle More than one million viewers have watched this tired traveller snuggling up to a total stranger on the Underground. Half-conscious mistake or video fake? Loud and proud

Question: Which station has the longest escalator in London's Tube network?
Answer: Angel