See it, play it, sorted (get chucked off Tube)

PASSENGERS listening to music out loud or taking phone calls on speaker could be thrown off the Tube under plans from the Conservative London mayoral candidate.

Susan Hall has announced that she would update the Transport for London (TfL) conditions of carriages to include a ban on playing loud music and videos.

TfL users who take calls on speakerphone or play music out loud would risk a fine of up to £1,000 or being removed from the network as part of an anti-social behaviour crackdown.

Current conditions state that those under the age of 16 with concession Oyster cards are not allowed to listen to music without earphones.

But Ms Hall would widen the ban so that all users of the Tube, London bus and other TfL networks would not be allowed to play audio such as music out loud or take calls on speakerphone.

The mayoral hopeful said that passengers “deserve a safe and quiet journey home”, adding that “under Sadiq Khan, the London Underground is less safe and less civil than it used to be”.

“I will overhaul the rules to ban disruptive anti-social behaviour and ensure that existing rules are enforced better by TfL staff,” she added.

The new rules and their enforcement would work like the network’s alcohol ban, introduced in 2008 by Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London.

It was notably broken by Diane Abbott, then shadow home secretary, who was forced to apologise for the breach after being photographed drinking a can of M&S mojito on a London Overground train. Ms Hall also announced plans to clarify rules governing filming videos for social media, such as YouTube or TikTok, on the Tube – a phenomenon on the rise in recent years.

Other behaviours already banned on TfL, including at train and bus stations, including smoking or vaping, using roller skates or skateboards or taking flash photographs.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: “We should all be considerate of other passengers around us, including the noise coming from our personal devices.

“Implementing formal restrictions would likely be very difficult, requiring bus and Tube staff to police how passengers operated their individual phones.

“It would require huge extra spending on enforcement and put impossible pressures on hard-working transport staff.”