TFL

A disgusted member of staff at Hyde Park Corner Underground station has provided an insight into what happened during closing time one night last month at the site amid an anarchic spree of shameless law-breaking by thousands of people. Transport workers who dared intervene were threatened with violence. To make matters worse, it was claimed that some police officers summoned in desperation to help deserted the scene after witnessing the scale of violence. Even though I live in New York as the Mail's correspondent and have been a seasoned traveller for nearly 20 years on the U.S. city's subway - a network notorious for attacks by disturbed and violent homeless people - I was deeply shocked to read that account by a Tube worker of what happened. His testimony was posted as an 'alert' to colleagues on Transport for London's (TfL) intranet but then leaked by someone who, rightly, felt it needed a wider audience. It bears reporting at length as the description of what the Tube employee called 'the staggering levels of criminal and anti-social behaviour' will surely strike a chord with many who travel by public transport in the capital. 'I cannot stress enough how horrible this was for anyone working on the station,' he wrote. 'We were aware that weekend would be very busy. However, we weren't prepared to have a frankly inadequate service, which made the whole situation [go] from difficult but somehow manageable to a nightmare.'...read