Tube chaos: Commuters face rush hour mayhem after stations shut amid safety fears

Jamie Bullen1 December 2016

Thousands of commuters faced rush hour chaos after major Tube stations were evacuated amid fears they were too busy.

Emergencies were declared at several busy stations on Wednesday evening with King’s Cross, Oxford Circus and Euston closed to prevent overcrowding on a day of mayhem across the capital’s underground network.

Warren Street and Bond Street stations were also shut as commuters told of hellish journeys on their way home from work.

The evening mayhem followed on from a day of disruption on the London Underground which began during morning rush hour when signal failures sparked severe delays on the Victoria, Northern and District lines.

Chaos: Passengers stuck at King's Cross station
Parky ‏@PA7KY

Arsenal supporters were urged to avoid Highbury & Islington, Holloway Road, Arsenal and Finsbury Park stations ahead of their League Cup clash with Southampton after a heavily disrupted Victoria and Piccadilly line service throughout the afternoon.

The Victoria line was earlier suspended because of a fire alert at Highbury and Islington before a person was hit and killed by a train at Blackhorse Road.

A man was also hit by a train at Holland Park station just before 5pm but survived the collision. He was taken to hospital with injuries.

Police said the incident was not suspicious.

The incident sparked major rush hour delays on the Central line which have now been downgraded to minor.

Meanwhile, the Piccadilly line offered a reduced service as repairs were carried out to its fleet of trains.

Irate travellers vented their frustrations on social media as they told of the journeys “from hell” on Wednesday with many directing their ire at Transport for London.

Michelle Rhodes tweeted: “I am fuming at @TfL, 3rd night running can't get into Oxford Circus tube. My journey home taking twice as long as normal SORT IT OUT! #chaos

Steven Nash wrote: “Euston tube was absolute chaos tonight. Evacuated due to 'emergency' but no details.”

While Sarah Chalk posted: “Just had a journey from Hell between Oxford Circus and Liverpool St...avoid Central Line if possible! More than usual I mean...”

Some urged people to avoid travelling completely amid the chaotic scenes which left thousands stranded outside stations in freezing weather conditions.

Jehane Juganaikloo tweeted: “I waited for 47 bloody minutes in the freezing cold at #oxfordcircus and this seem to be a recurring thing apparently. Sort it out, @TfL."

Kanem Hutchinson wrote: “If you're travelling in London today then...JUST DON'T Left work at 5.40pm #kingscross."

Another added: “Fuming!!!! @TfL took me nearly two hours to get home from Bond Street when usually takes 30mins we pay you you don't pay us!!”

While another woman tweeted: “Get thrown out of #kingscross and #Euston stations! Taken me 2 hours to do a 50min journey! Convinces #TfL created their own problem!”

A Transport for London spokesperson said: "We apologise for the disruption caused to customers this evening. For the safety of our customers we implemented crowd control measures at some of our busier stations to prevent overcrowding at platform level.

"Our staff worked hard to keep customers informed of what was happening and to help them with their journeys."

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