20% of London's Tube Drivers are "unsafe"

If you're about to take the London Underground into work this morning take heart that according to the BBC up to one in five of the trains you could board will have an "unsafe" driver at the controls.


The BBC in a Donald MacIntyre Investigation report that "Up to 20% of London Underground train drivers are sent on retraining courses each year because of unsafe driving. About 700 drivers were sent on the courses each year since 2003 for wrongly going through red stop signals.

The figures, which were obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, include drivers who may have been on courses twice in the same year."

In each case the drivers (or operators as they like to be called) were retrained as a result of signals passed at danger or SPAD's as they are known in the trade (the reality TV programme The Tube is how I know this), which can occur when the driver (sorry, operator) misjudges the train's braking distance. If a train goes through a red signal the brake system is automatically triggered.

The train operator is then supposed to report this to the control room for advice on when it is safe for the train to proceed. If they don't report the incident it could result in disciplinary action.

Not suprisingly, Transport for London (TfL) assure us that all is well and in a statement said: "There have been no injuries as a result of these incidents.

"It must be noted that as London Underground upgrades its signal system a part of its signal system as part of its current rebuilding program, these incidents will be eliminated by the implementation of automatic train operation."

Well that's nice to know then.