"Darren" wrote in message
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"The Only Living Boy in New Cross" wrote in
message om...
Can anyone tell me why London Underground staff at stations are often
so singularly ill-informed when incidents on the tube happen? I've
just tried to go from Holborn to Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly Line.
I got to Holborn Station, which was shut. The staff at the front of
the station told everyone to walk down to Covent Garden. Covent
Garden was also shut. The staff there assured me that there were
still trains running on the Piccadilly Line, it was just these two
stations that were shut for the Fire Brigade to be in attendance, and
that I should walk to Leicester Square. Got to Leicester Square and,
guess what, the escalators to the Piccadilly Line were shut and staff
there said there were no trains on the line at all.

Two incidents occurred at almost the same time - reports of smoke in the
running tunnels between South Kensington and Knightsbridge and between
Covent Garden and Holborn requiring Fire Brigade checks to be carried out
resulting in services being suspended between Hammersmith and Kings Cross on
the Eastbound and then on the Westbound for further checks. As others have
already stated, incidents like this are dynamic by their very nature and
there can be a lag in the latest information being passed to front line
staff as the line management are concentrating on resolving the incident and
ensuring potential problems do no occur - such as trains stuck in tunnels
outside the affected area.

The short answer is no, the staff at Covent Garden didn't lie, at the time
you asked them there was still a Westbound service but both Holborn and
Covent Garden were closed according to Fire Brigade instructions. By the
time you reached Leicester Square the Fire Brigade had completed checks on
the Eastbound and wanted to travel back Westbound to check that the smoke
hadn't drifted from that running tunnel.