Batty Tube Boots

Hanging around for the London Underground

If ever you feel the need to hang upside down from the handrails on your Tube journey, your wait is now over. Dutch born Eelko Moorer, who lives in East London has created some boots that you can latch onto the handrails as he thought it would "liven up Tube journeys".

He said: "I like the idea of doing something that gives a person a sense of relief and can cheer up lives. We had a somewhat mixed reaction from other Tube travellers. Some people were surprised, others liked it and others were appalled.." From the look of the guy in the beige suit, some people get their Tube face on and show complete indifference.

The boots took him about a week to make and they have been on display at a British Council exhibition in Italy. His objects have been described as "indulging improbable fantasies from flying like a bird to hanging and swinging like a jungle beast".

Mr Moorer seems to have had some thoughts about safety as he said: "The soles of the boots were the most difficult. I had to make sure that someone would not fall off,"

However, London Underground weren't too wild about this footwear and a spokesperson said "This is a dangerous and stupid act that could result in serious injury to not only the individual concerned but also other passengers."

Not sure I'll be seeing many Tube fashion victims in them as Moorer said "They were meant as a one-off but if someone was interested in a pair, maybe I could do one for them." Probably some bright sparks from YouTube will be putting in an order.

Thanks to Dmitri for sending me the link to the story from the BBC.

It's worth having a look at the rest of Moorer's work as there's some very weird things going on in his "Emergency Games" booklet. I imagine London Underground won't be using him to illustrate any TfL manuals.