Outrage as London tube driver whips up passengers to chant pro-Palestinian slogans

[thenorthern]

Outrage as London tube driver whips up passengers to chant pro-Palestinian slogans including 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'​

A London tube driver sparked outrage today by urging passengers to chant pro-Palestinian slogans as they headed towards a protest in solidarity with Palestinian civilians.

Video circulating online appears to show the Central Line driver leading a chant of 'Free, free Palestine' for the hundreds of people packed tightly into busy train.

It comes as the Met Police said around 100,000 people had taken to the streets of London to peacefully demonstrate by 2pm on Saturday.

Outrage as London tube driver whips up pro-Palestinian chants

Video circulating online appears to show the Central Line driver leading a chant of 'Free, free Palestine' for the hundreds of people packed tightly into busy train.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Have seen this story doing the rounds on social media and now the Daily Mail has reported on it. Apparently as well the Met Police investigated and has passed it onto BTP to investigate.

Not sure it requires a police investigation however as it's a very controversial political issue I imagine there will also be a TFL investigation.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Regardless of what they might happen to be, expressing one's political views using one's employer's facilities and in their time is grossly inappropriate. Given the sensitivity of the issue and the potential of his actions to incite antisemitic action (even if not the intent) I would see it as gross misconduct.

And yes, I would see it the same if it was an announcement supporting Israel, or even a request to vote for a specific political party.

 

[Bishopstone]

It’s a bad look for railway staff in safety critical roles to become diverted in this way, regardless of cause, and I feel the same about the ‘entertaining’ drivers who tell jokes/stories over the PA system between stations.

 

[olddriver]

Personal views should remain personal when at work. I fear this driver may be having an awkward meeting with management on Monday.

 

[stuu]

I agree, staff should never make political announcements regardless of the cause

 

[bramling]

Have seen this story doing the rounds on social media and now the Daily Mail has reported on it. Apparently as well the Met Police investigated and has passed it onto BTP to investigate.

Not sure it requires a police investigation however as it's a very controversial political issue I imagine there will also be a TFL investigation.

Completely unacceptable on a number of levels. Inappropriate, unnecessary, and a distraction when the driver is supposed to be in charge of the train.

Suspect, if the facts are as they seem, this will end up being a case of resign pending an inevitable disciplinary.

 

[Tube driver]

That’s a big no no.

Someone is going to be having an awkward conversation on Monday.

 

[CC 72100]

Personal views should remain personal when at work. I fear this driver may be having an awkward meeting with management on Monday.

Quite - on 'work time' you don't have views on anything political when in the public domain. Simple.

 

[Bartsimho]

It’s a bad look for railway staff in safety critical roles to become diverted in this way, regardless of cause, and I feel the same about the ‘entertaining’ drivers who tell jokes/stories over the PA system between stations.

For entertaining drivers when it's quiet I like it's better as most people would laugh and that's not political. This action is unacceptable though (Although I have seen some places try to defend it). Over to you now TfL, time to probably relive him of his duties.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Not convinced this is a Tube driver - far too clear for a 92 stock PA. Seems toned more to a bullhorn than in car speakers - especially when underway.

There is a TikToker who goes round impersonating staff using such PA equipment, and many ‘in the know’ - including on these forums - have fallen for it. Let’s not be so quick to jump to conclusions.

 

[burneside]

BTP has tweeted that it is working with TfL to investigate the incident, the truth should be known soon enough.

https://x.com/btp/status/1715752236876185619?s=61&t=rJFhE5jm5_aTj92ux9CUAA

 

[Purple Train]

For entertaining drivers when it's quiet I like it's better as most people would laugh and that's not political.

Agreed, especially if things have gone a bit wrong it's nice to know there's a human at the other end of the PA.

There is a TikToker who goes round impersonating staff using such PA equipment, and many ‘in the know’ - including on these forums - have fallen for it. Let’s not be so quick to jump to conclusions.

It did strike me as very odd when I saw the initial news story. If your suspicions turn out to be correct, that is possibly a more concerning state of affairs than if it was indeed the train operator.

 

[ATrainSpotter]

I feel the same about the ‘entertaining’ drivers who tell jokes/stories over the PA system between stations.

Seriously?

Completely unacceptable on a number of levels. Inappropriate, unnecessary, and a distraction when the driver is supposed to be in charge of the train.

Suspect, if the facts are as they seem, this will end up being a case of resign pending an inevitable disciplinary.

Would you say the same thing when it was induced in the other direction?

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you mean "would you object if it was pro Israel", yes. Politics has no place in the workplace.

 

[bramling]

Would you say the same thing when it was induced in the other direction?

Any politics is inappropriate for a train PA system.

Though as a point of relevance, some of TFL’s publicity IMO crosses the line into politics, especially where it is blatantly (or more subtly) used to promote the mayor. I find that objectionable too.

 

[InkyScrolls]

Any politics is inappropriate for a train PA system.

Perhaps not quite all. I remember word for word an announcement I made just over a year ago:

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please, this is a special announcement. A spokesman for Buckingham Palace has just announced that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has died, aged ninety-six."

My packed, rush-hour train went silent - you could hear a pin drop.

 

[Ralph Ayres]

The audio in the online clip really does sound far more like someone using a loudhailer in the car than the train PA.

 

[edwin_m]

Perhaps not quite all. I remember word for word an announcement I made just over a year ago:

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please, this is a special announcement. A spokesman for Buckingham Palace has just announced that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has died, aged ninety-six."

My packed, rush-hour train went silent - you could hear a pin drop.

I wouldn't consider that to be a political announcement, and I consider it entirely appropriate.

By contrast, inciting one side on an extremely divisive issue carries the risk of causing violence on board, and would be very intimidating to any Israelis on board the train, trapped and surrounded by people expressing hate for them. Assuming this happened as reported, I'd say it was totally unacceptable and prosecution should certainly be considered.

 

[InkyScrolls]

I wouldn't consider that to be a political announcement, and I consider it entirely appropriate.

By contrast, inciting one side on an extremely divisive issue carries the risk of causing violence on board, and would be very intimidating to any Israelis on board the train, trapped and surrounded by people expressing hate for them. Assuming this happened as reported, I'd say it was totally unacceptable and prosecution should certainly be considered.

Then we are in full agreement.

 

[bramling]

Perhaps not quite all. I remember word for word an announcement I made just over a year ago:

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please, this is a special announcement. A spokesman for Buckingham Palace has just announced that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has died, aged ninety-six."

My packed, rush-hour train went silent - you could hear a pin drop.

I wouldn't say the latter is political, merely an announcement of fact.

Having said that, I'm still reticent to have the PA being used for non-essential purposes, which also includes rather a lot of stuff which TFL themselves encourage drivers to put out. At the end of the day use of the PA is a distraction when a driver is in charge of a train, either when moving or when carrying out station duties.

 

[Bishopstone]

As there is some debate developing as to the source of this announcement: would the tube train’s ‘black box’ record when the PA system was used and, if so, what was said?

 

[Tube driver]

Would also say that the Queen dying announcement above is also inappropriate.

We‘re not a ‘breaking news’ service, we make announcements appropriate to the service we provide So that’s service announcements, announcements that help the smooth running of the service (mind the doors, etc) and emergency type announcements and stuff along those type of lines.

Anything else is superfluous and not needed (and that includes some TfL announcement).

 

[bramling]

As there is some debate developing as to the source of this announcement: would the tube train’s ‘black box’ record when the PA system was used and, if so, what was said?

I am pretty sure the answer is no, and definitely no in terms of what was said.

 

[Bletchleyite]

We‘re not a ‘breaking news’ service, we make announcements appropriate to the service we provide So that’s service announcements, announcements that help the smooth running of the service (mind the doors, etc)

"Standclearofthedoorsmindthedoorsmindthedoorsmindthedoors" is of no benefit either, to be fair, it's just waffle. It's not, however, politically contentious.

 

[danm14]

The audio in the online clip really does sound far more like someone using a loudhailer in the car than the train PA.

Agreed.

It sounds remarkably like the voice and loudspeaker system of "More Talent Less Limited" - the person who makes most of the London Underground "prank announcement" videos seen on YouTube and similar.

One announcement he did several times involved targeting opposite-sex couples who were holding hands or hugging with announcements that "heterosexuality is prohibited on the Underground during Pride Month" along with the slogan "No Hetero on the Metro" - so it's not too much of a stretch to imagine more overtly political and/or controversial topics being the subject of his "announcements".

 

[nw1]

While this is, obviously, a highly sensitive issue and for someone to so publicly take either side is dangerous, would people here also call for the sacking of the driver if, for example, he publicly made a (non-offensive) joke about Donald Trump?

While a "quiet word" to not be so political might be appropriate, I would consider sacking a completely over-the-top response in such a situation.

 

[Bletchleyite]

While this is, obviously, a highly sensitive issue and for someone to so publicly take either side is dangerous, would people here also call for the sacking of the driver if, for example, he publicly made a (non-offensive) joke about Donald Trump?

While a "quiet word" to not be so political might be appropriate, I would consider sacking a completely over-the-top response in such a situation.

A joke maybe not*, but an inflammatory statement of political allegiance that could have led to anti Semitic violence on board (or at least any Jewish people there feeling intimidated) isn't acceptable and I would consider it gross misconduct and sacking appropriate. The same if it was pro Israel, as that could have led to Islamophobia on board. It really should be very obvious that speaking publically on the issue while acting for your employer is strongly inappropriate.

Of course if it wasn't the driver or they believe it wasn't then LU should probably make a public statement of that.

* Personally I would be more than happy if announcements were just fully automated, some drivers and platform staff just waffle far too much which degrades the effectiveness of anything important that needs to be said.

 

[nw1]

A joke maybe not*, but an inflammatory statement of political allegiance that could have led to anti Semitic violence on board (or at least any Jewish people there feeling intimidated) isn't acceptable and I would consider it gross misconduct and sacking appropriate. The same if it was pro Israel. It really should be very obvious that speaking publically on the issue while acting for your employer is strongly inappropriate.

That's the thing in this particular situation I think. It's not the political statement that's the big problem but the particularly sensitive nature of the Israel/Palestine conflict and I think it's this that people need to focus on. I agree it could have led to anti-Semitic violence and was thus very dangerous.

Would also say that the Queen dying announcement above is also inappropriate.

We‘re not a ‘breaking news’ service, we make announcements appropriate to the service we provide So that’s service announcements, announcements that help the smooth running of the service (mind the doors, etc) and emergency type announcements and stuff along those type of lines.

Anything else is superfluous and not needed (and that includes some TfL announcement).

It shouldn't be mandatory for Tube staff to provide news, but I'd hope that sacking someone for announcing the Queen's death would not be regarded as an acceptable course of action.

People would find out soon enough anyway with all these electronic news screens all over the place nowadays.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's the thing in this particular situation I think. It's not the political statement that's the big problem but the particularly sensitive nature of the Israel/Palestine conflict and I think it's this that people need to focus on. I agree it could have led to anti-Semitic violence and was thus very dangerous.

Indeed. I do to be fair think "vote Labour" (or Tory or whatever) would also be strongly inappropriate, but the big issue here is that it was in any meaningful sense potentially inciting violence.

It shouldn't be mandatory for Tube staff to provide news, but I'd hope that sacking someone for announcing the Queen's death would not be regarded as an acceptable course of action.

People would find out soon enough anyway with all these electronic news screens all over the place nowadays.

Agreed.

 

[Tom B]

A few years ago I was on the platform at Holloway Road when the football at Highbury had kicked out (rookie timing error), so the place was rammed with 'Arsenal' supporters. A tube pulled in with a 'Tottenham Hotspurs' scarf draped over the dashboard... I did fear what would happen next!