Visiting London? Welcome! But PLEASE....

[RantzNotBantz]

...Please , when you get off an escalator keep walking forwards!

Visitors have a terrible habit on tube escalators - step off and then stop dead while they gaze at the signs to decide which way to walk for their line.

It nearly caused a bad accident at King's Cross yesterday. A group of 3 stopped right in front. I was walking down the L hand side, the woman on the R slightly in front of me at the end of the escalator had to move sharply L towards me because they were blocking her path - her case ran over my foot, half tripping me and I almost went flying. Meanwhile the guy behind her with a big case was pushed into the group and couldn't move, I was yelling, and a pile up was happening with people stumbling on the escalator until a man coming towards the escalator physically grabbed two of the stationary group and pulled them sharply out of the way.

They looked most affronted.

But really....

Step off the escalator. Keep walking. Stop in a clear area in the hallway (not in the entrance tunnel to the platform) and work out where to go.

Ask someone if you need to - we'll be as helpful as we can. As long as you are not creating a hazard.

Also - keep walking through the barrier...and have your payment method ready before you approach the barrier.

Happy days all round! Have a lovely visit.

Gosh, if I made a post every time someone acted cluelessly where I live and where I work, I’d need a whole forum to myself! 🙄

Totally agree OP. I’ve hollered at people before when they’ve stopped and chatted right at the end and hadn’t taken any notice of polite requests from those ahead of me. ‘MOVE AWAY FROM THE ESCALATOR’ said VERY sternly did the trick.

It’s bloody dangerous!

It's not just London this happens in. We had the same at an airport, a clueless man just stopped at the bottom of the escalator then had the cheek to look affronted that my rolling cabin suitcase which was in front of me banged into his legs. Luckily the security staff at the airport saw that he had caused it and yelled at him to keep moving and stop causing a blockage.

It's not just visitors though is it? It's almost every day on my commute.

See also shopping centre escalators.

It's people in groups in general, brains not switched on who stop with no warning in the middle of pavements and walkways and then wonder why they get bumped and shoved.

Are there signs at the bottom of the escalator so people know where they are going before they hop on or is it the first time they have seen them and they panic thinking about where to go

Disclaimer I haven't been to London in years so can't remember but I do agree you need to keep moving.

This isn't just on escalators.
I wish people would stop abruptly stopping to look at their phones, look around, or chat to each other wherever they go. Top of a flight of stairs? Shift it! Pedestrian crossing? Get moving! Doorway to the supermarket? Just go and do some shopping or take it home and put it in the fridge! In your car seeing your friend coming in the opposite direction in their car and you both stop and block the only entrance to an estate so no one can get out to work for 10 mins while you chat? Piss off!
Why does anyone abruptly stop in busy places where they block the path of others? No self awareness at all, utterly self absorbed, and so are the people who stop to chat to them.

This is hardly exclusive to London it happens on escalators everywhere!

As soon as I started reading the title I knew you were going to say ‘don’t stop at the end of the escalator’ (same applies at top/bottom of stairs’)@RantzNotBantz and same when people get off the tube or train … need to move to a safe, less busy area.

It definitely happens in other places, but London is busier so its more likely to cause chaos because there's no break in people coming behind you.

People’s ability to navigate and behave in busy public places seems to have seriously deteriorated in the last few years. Is it a Covid hangover? I have no idea but bloody hell it’s annoying.

And on escalators, please stand on the right!

We were going down stairs coming home from Wimbledon and could see the train on the platform. Lots of people were in a hurry and there was a couple taking up the width of the stairs, stopped, gazing around wondering where they should go

If you're not sure, get off the stairs and stand to the side.

I'm fascinated by people's behaviour in supermarket car parks.

It's like some event horizon where many suddenly just... forget how cars work. I can't imagine that they're just enjoying the scenery.

I am, however, also the person in the queue behind the person who has apparently never been in a shop before (never stand behind me, I am the Death of Queues, like some kind of very niche demi-goddess).

This is my massive bugbear. Escalators, going through a doorway, blocking supermarket aisles for a chinwag, stopping dead at the train station gates. At the station I got stuck behind a girl she was leaning over the other gate to help get pal…go through the fucking gate then help the halfwit!

I got shouted at by a woman at Palma airport when I said ‘you are blocking a doorway!’ I cut her dead and said sternly ‘YOU ARE STILL BLOCKING A DOORWAY…MOVE!’ My husband said ‘how did you know she spoke English?’ I took a chance as she looked a stereotypical ‘Brit abroad’

Sad to say, too many people are just too thick/dopey to employ common sense - not that common sense would seem to be at all common any more. 🙁

Maybe MN would give your own Board? No harm in asking. They could make it a perk of Premium membership.

It happens everywhere, usually when people are unfamiliar with the surroundings or gathering a group together in order to make their next move. Sometimes it's both of these simultaneously or they are just space cadets. Try walking down any busy street and others will stop dead in front of you with no warning or cut across your path without looking, etc, etc. You need a sixth sense and telepathy. Obviously sod's law means all this annoying and disruptive behaviour happens when you are in a rush, carrying/wheeling stuff and know exactly how to get where you need to be by the most direct route.

I think the general vibe is don't stop in traffic... whether that's humans or cars.

Incredibly dangerous situation developed at Stratford station on Saturday after the Diamond League Athletics meet. Crowd management as far as the Underground station but none after that. People were piling down the escalator not realising there was not enough room at the bottom. Fortunately someone hit the emergency stop. Surely crowd control after events like this should be routine for London given that it is also the height of summer? Very poor we thought in light of previous incidents - especially as there appeared to be no shortage of staff standing round.

Stratford Station a bloody nightmare, although it's often my best option for getting home i avoid like the plague, goddess help you if you try to get on a Jubilee line train, the hordes of people getting off will just mow you down. Every attempt at getting on the DLR or the tube is a painful experience of being kettled, it's all just too small for the numbers that use it. Just hopelessly cramped and out of date for one of the busiest hubs in london.

Well said. It's so thoughtless!

I knew it was going to be escalators! 😂

Why didn’t the lady on right shout excuse me as she was approaching instead of encroaching on your space on left