Holborn: Commuters uncomfortable as Tube staff order them to join 'standing-only' escalators

Users urged to abandon long-standing principle of Tube etiquette in bid to ease congestion at Holborn station

Staff at Holborn Tube station have been trialling 'standing only' on the station's escalators (Getty)

London Underground staff have been calling on commuters to trample over that long-standing principle of tube etiquette that escalator users should walk on the left and stand on the right.

Staff at Holborn Tube station have been trialling "standing only" on its 24.4 metre-long 'up' escalators in an attempt to ease the flow of passengers out of the busy station.

One observer tweeted that commuters looked "mortified" at the request.

Tube staff, positioned at the bottom of one of the escalators, used megaphones to direct passengers to stand on both sides of the escalator, although reports suggested they were having only limited success.

The move is part of a three-week trial that began on Monday, but Transport for London (TfL) said it had no plans to roll the trial out across all of the Underground's 430 escalators.

Standing on the right and walking on the left feels like a long cherished rule of British commuting.

But while busy Brits have been known to grumble about those blocking their way on the left of the escalator, walking has not always been encourgaed.

A 1970s public information film about the Tube called on passengers to "stand still and don't walk down", and featured a child's blue wellington boot being sucked into the escalator mechanism, it's owner presumably having disobeyed the instruction.

Holborn station serves 56 million passengers a year, according to figures from TfL.

A planned upgrade will see the station given a new entrance and enlarged ticket hall by 2022.

"In the meantime, as part of a three-week trial to reduce queues and keep people moving through the station, we are encouraging customers to stand on both sides of the 'up' escalators during busy periods," Peter McNaught, operations director for the Central line, said.

"We believe this will increase the capacity of the escalators as more people will be able to board, preventing queuing at the bottom of the escalator.”