Crocs stop Escalators

Should Crocs be banned on the Tube?

Well obviously on the grounds of taste Crocs should be banned, but it appears that they play havoc with escalators too.


There have been increasing stories about people travelling on escalators getting their footwear trapped and mangled in escalator teeth. Escalators on Washington's Metro have been put out of action as a result

"Twenty-five objects were stuck in escalators last month, most of them "shoe entrapments," officials said. "We've had an alarming increase of incidents of those types of shoes being stuck in the escalator," said Dave Lacosse, who oversees Metro's 588 escalators"

Sadly the Metro aren't considering a ban, even though a broken escalator can be non functioning for half a day depending on the level of shoe entrapment. However Croc wearers don't seem to care and just want their beloved items back:

"Even when their shoes get mauled, most riders are too attached to them to let go. Some even ask for retrieved ones to be left with station managers so they can get them the next day.

Used to be that the damaged shoes were brought to Lacosse's office, where he kept them as mementos. Alas, these days, "most of the customers want their shoe back," he said."

There have also been reports of children losing their toes as a result of Crocs and Croc pretenders getting stuck in escalator teeth. Of course the manufacturers of Crocs swear that their footwear is safe and imply the problem is with the escalators. A spokeswoman from the company (which manufacture 6 million pairs a month - God help us) said "The popularity of our shoes has helped draw attention to a long-existing issue that we think is very important -- escalator safety,"

Crocs were in discussion with the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation and apparently agreed to design a tag inside its shoes and set up kiosks in shopping malls to inform people about escalator safety. But it never happened.

DC'ist are all for an out and out ban of Crocs on the subway: "Why can't we prohibit what people wear? We already prohibit behavior on Metro, like eating and drinking, solely for the sake of cleanliness — requiring riders to abandon their Crocs for the sake of saving us from having to look at those ugly-ass shoes safety seems all the more rational. We often shake our fingers at Nannyism on the part of the D.C. Council, but if this isn't a cause worthy of that legislative body's penchant for keeping us safe through telling us how to live our lives, we don't know what is. Ban Crocs Today!"

I'm not sure if the sign above from Jakarta is real or photo-shopped but it's a cracking idea and Boris or Ken would get my vote next year if they could stamp out Croc wearing on the London Underground.

Big thanks to Martin Deutsch for giving me the heads up on this story. There must be some Croc wearers out there who can come to the defence of the Croc (Fimb where are you?!!). Although perhaps after hearing this tale you might think twice about Tube Croc wearing.