Paul Corfield wrote:
On 8 Jun 2006 03:58:42 -0700, "Kev" wrote:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/engla...on/5058362.stm

LU's managing director Tim O'Toole said: "There is no one overall
solution to heat on the Tube but significant progress is now being
made.

I thought that Tim O'Toole's solution was for everybody to take a
shower in the morning.

I think that was a quote taken somewhat out of context.

Interestingly (!) I got caught in a 15 delay between St James Park and
Victoria this evening. This was due a passenger ill on a train at Sloane
Square. The driver gave us what advice / information he could and we
knew that a doctor was on the scene at Sloane Square.

In the carriage I was in a young chap said he was hot, then that he
couldn't breath and then was starting to panic somewhat. This then made
his breathing problem (appear) even worse. The passengers nearest him
did what they could to cool him down with water and by fanning him. A
qualified first aider then came along and sat him down and got him to
breath in a controlled manner. He got off at Victoria with the first
aider and some assistance was sought from the platform staff.

I haven't witnessed that sort of situation before (with heat) and I was
a little surprised to see how the panic built up in just one person so
quickly. It also led me to consider what would have happened if the
train had been very full (it wasn't thankfully) and been stuck for much
longer.

I will be giving some feedback on my experience to the Line Manager as I
think some more frequent announcements from the driver and a better view
of timescales (hard I know in such cases) might have calmed matters
down.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Panic attacks are the thing that make me wary of travelling on the
Underground. The problem with them is that they can strike anyone at
any time and can set off an attack in other people. If you don't know
how to deal with them they can be very distressing. If you do know how
to deal with them, sometimes your mind takes over and you can't apply
comntrol methods. Having a guard with medical traiing on trains might
alleviate the problem and provide communication with the driver, but
obviously that's not going to happen. Some sort of control over the
number of people allowed to cram into a carriage in hot weather might
be a better solution, perhaps even going as far a banning standing at
those times.

Neill