Down the Tube
Londoners faced a 48-hour nightmare when the lifeline of the capital, the Tube, came to a halt last week. The strike was scheduled for 6pm on Wednesday and offices began emptying out by 4.30 pm so that people could get home, but that resulted in overcrowding at most tube stations which led to shutdowns at several stations well before time. It was the worst tube strike in 13 years and to add to the woes of commuters Great Western rail was also on strike. I have never seen such endless queues for buses. Despite adding 200 extra buses streets around Paddington, Oxford Circus and Liverpool Street were gridlocked. In an otherwise orderly nation that is known for queuing up, police had to be called in at places to maintain order in queues that snaked around streets. I saw people coming to blows for the last available seat in a bus.??