d wrote:

They *are* blocking the passageway. Just as two cars travelling the same
speed down a dual carriageway block that, too. And, funnily enough, the
delay caused is enough to regularly make me miss trains. I change from the
Victoria to the Circle/District lines at Victoria every morning, and train
frequency is actually pretty good during rush hour for some reason. Getting
caught up anywhere on the few-hundred-metres interchange can most definitely
mean enough of a delay to miss a train. It happens on a regular basis.

I don't have a problem with mothers holding their kids hands. In fact it's
ESSENTIAL on the underground. My problem is with the usual lack of giving
a **** about what's around you. It's a really, really common thing to see
on the underground. If the mother thought about it for 2 seconds, and
walked the kid in front of her, she'd be protecting it a lot more than just
letting it drag slightly behind her through a crowded station during rush
hour, where any stray suitcase/briefcase/ipod/metro/umbrella could quite
easily take it out.

But I guess everyone should just form a queue behind the mother and child,
overcrowding the interchange, blocking the escalators, and eventually
leading to station closures.

dave

Agreed totally. I travel National Rail to Victoria District Line every
morning, and once I've managed to negotiate those selfish people weaving
all over the place with their planet-sized suitcases and those coming up
the down direction stairs to the Tube, I then have the pleasure of those
idiots who stand around at the top of the stairs to the District Line,
or those who think they can get out or change to the Victoria Line using
the ticket hall platform stairs. And it's not just a tourist problem,
as there are big symbolic "no entry" signs at the bottom, which
generally mean the same thing everywhere.

I'm actually pretty considerate of my fellow travellers and try not to
get in the way. I look and react. Why can't more people do the same?
Bring on "speed lanes" for those walkers who want to actually get where
they are going today!

Cheers

Steve M