London's Tube 'unfit for animals'

A survey by the Liberal Democrats shows that summertime conditions are now so bad on the London Underground that they break European Commission laws on the transportation of animals.

However, passengers are likely to have to contend with stiflingly hot summer travelling conditions for some time as LU admitted that fitting air conditioning was difficult and "phenomenally expensive".

LU also admitted that the risk of passengers collapsing from heat exhaustion when trains are stranded in tunnels is now so great that ambulances are sent on average twice a week to await commuters being taken off.

The survey was conducted by Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat shadow transport minister. It found that the Central line, used by 650,000 passengers a day, had temperatures of more than 32.5C (90F), followed by the Piccadilly line at 32C, the Jubilee at 31C and the Northern at 30.5C.

Mr Brake said: "EU law states that the recommended maximum temperature is 30C for the carriage of animals. Yet for humans there is no maximum temperature and we see the levels exceeding the guidelines for animals on four Tube lines.

"We legislate against the inhumane transport of live animals. The Government should be equally concerned about the welfare of Tube passengers."

An LU spokesman said: "The Tube can be hot and uncomfortable. Being over 100 years old, the network was built well before air conditioning was invented. We are constantly looking at ways to improve ventilation.

"Presently, we are not required to have Tube carriage temperatures at specific levels. However, we do have defined requirements for the performance of heating and ventilation systems. These are aimed to ensure that temperatures and humidity remain tolerable.

"There are a number of initiatives we conduct to assist customers with making their journey more comfortable, such as a poster campaign listing hot weather travelling tips and the distribution of free bottles of water at selected stations on hot summer days."