Going Down the Tube

A Tube worker has been caught on camera abusing an elderly passenger, calling him a “jumped- up little git”. The employee lost his temper when the man politely complained about getting his arm stuck in a door for several seconds as he tried to leave a train. Mayor Boris Johnson said he was appalled by the incident. TfL today suspended the worker while it launched an investigation. In the video posted by a fellow passenger on YouTube, the worker shouts: “Ladies and gentlemen, this train goes nowhere until little man gets off.” Jonathan MacDonald, from Camberley, who works in Covent Garden, filmed the incident yesterday at 2.30pm. He said the well-dressed man's initial complaint was civil. “I saw an elderly man with his arm trapped in the closing door of a faulty train at Holborn station,” he said.

“We all thought the train was heading further east but the train was terminating at Holborn and we were ushered on to the platform by two shouting staff. The elderly man was slow to get off in the mad rush, hence the entrapment. A few people called to staff to open the door again so he could be released. About 30 seconds later the doors opened again and he removed his arm. I watched as he calmly relayed his experience to the staff member. The member of staff didn't think it was a problem — in fact, he was furious that the guy had mentioned it at all, especially as the guy was standing close to the track.

“After a while, he started shouting at the guy to stand back, there is a f***ing train approaching'. The elderly guy quietly questioned why he had to swear, as did several other passengers. That was when I pulled out my video camera.” The video shows the man saying: “Come upstairs and talk to the police upstairs. You are not getting on this train. The train will not move.”


Mayor of London, Boris Johnson responds to scene on Twitter

As the passenger boards the train the member of staff says: “Ladies and gentleman, this train goes nowhere until little man gets off. Because you're a jumped up little git, mate. I'm not holding anyone else's journey up for a little girl like you.” As the train pulls off, with the elderly man on board, the member of staff says: “Sling him under a train.” A TfL spokesman said: “We are appalled by this video and will investigate thoroughly and urgently.”