A man brazenly smoking a cigarette between carriages on the London Underground has been caught on camera by a fellow commuter.
When 26-year-old Tom Brada from London jumped onto the Victoria Line at around 2.30am coming home from a party in Finsbury Park, a man smoking on it was the last thing he expected.
Smoking on trains on the Tube has been banned since 1984, and after a fire at Oxford Circus station believed to be caused by a cigarette later that year the ban was rolled out to cover all Underground stations.
Though the ban didn’t stop one shameless man, who Brada filmed:
Speaking to UNILAD, Brada explained what happened:
He was sat in my carriage all by himself when he suddenly decided to get up and move to the window of the door connecting to the next carriage.
He then opened that door, strode into the next carriage, shut that window and then stepped back into the gap between the carriages.
With extraordinary nonchalance he then got out his lighter and battled multiple times against the blustery winds of the Victoria line and eventually got his ciggy going.
In a declaration of just how little he cared for the rules he even kept smoking when we went through a platform.
He took his sweet time, smoked his cigarette down to the butt, flicked it away into the tunnel without a care in the world and went back into the other carriage to sit down.
Although people were laughing and looking at the man in disbelief, Brada added ‘no one said anything’ to him and the smoker got off the tube ‘scot-free’.
It’s Brada’s belief since the Night Tube came into effect two years ago, the amount of ‘bonkers activity’ he has seen on the Underground has increased.
He said:
I even saw someone getting out all their gear for rolling up a joint but even they had the sense to smoke it outside once they were actually off the tube.
This bloke took Underground anarchy to the next level and so while I was definitely a bit indignant, definitely judged the hell out of him, I was also somewhat in awe of his considerable chutzpah and unfailing persistence in his efforts to claim a cheeky mid-tube cigarette.
Shock, awe, anger, amazement, excessive British politeness, comedy and potential calamity – this incident had it all.
Despite the very British awkwardness, smoking on the Underground is an extremely dangerous activity that should be taken seriously.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to stories@unilad.co.uk. To license this article contact licensing@unilad.co.uk.
