Tube safety alert over storeroom explosives

Station staff said they did not know the four canisters of explosives were in an open safe at Golders Green station. The key was in the door.

There were fears some of the powerful "caps" - which can maim and create a loud bang when they go off - may have gone missing.

Their uses include giving warnings to maintenance gangs of an approaching train. They are placed on top of tracks and locomotive's wheels squash the caps causing them to explode. Tube Lines, the maintenance giant responsible for the station, has admitted it did not complete the " necessary" paperwork to store the caps in the room. A liquid smelling "of petrol" was also stored there.

Safety representatives from the TSSA union raised the alarm during a routine safety inspection of the room which had been locked. A number of Golders Green staff, including the station supervisor, were with the rep. He said: "None of us had any idea these (explosives) were there. No paperwork appears to exist about them on the station. As the box (safe) was open, were all the explosives stored in this room present or had any gone missing prior to our arrival?

"We also demand to know who put them there and why? And we want to know if explosives are being stored anywhere else on the network."

TSSA has lodged a formal complaint with the controlling Inspector of Railways. Gerry Doherty, TSSA general secretary, will raise the union's fears this afternoon when he addresses the Commons transport committee.

He said the explosives "had the potential to be a very dangerous situation both for our members and the wider public. Thankfully, Tube Lines responded quickly to our concerns."

A Tube Lines spokeswoman said all the detonators had been accounted for.

Brian Cooke, chairman of Travel-Watch, said: "This should not have been allowed to happen, particularly in this time of heightened security."