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The number of people attempting suicide on the London Underground has soared over the last 10 years, the Standard can reveal.
Transport for London figures show 80 people threw themselves in front of Tube trains last year compared with 46 in 2000 - a rise of 74 per cent in a decade.
Tube passengers have suffered a total of 29 days of delays in the last 10 years because of people killing themselves across the network.
There has been a marked increase since the global financial crisis in 2008. In 2007, 61 people threw themselves in front of Tube trains. By 2009 the annual figure had soared to 82, a 34 per cent increase.
Paul Castle, 54, a Mayfair property tycoon who played polo with Prince Charles, threw himself in front of a train at Bond Street station last November after he saw his multi-million pound empire suffer in the recession.
The worst affected station was King's Cross St Pancras with 18 suicides over the last decade.
The next highest was Mile End with 17 self-inflicted deaths, more than at much larger stations such as Victoria and Liverpool Street.
The Northern line saw the most suicide attempts, with 145 over the last 10 years. Last year, London's busiest Tube line dealt with 20 people under trains compared with just six in 2000.
Other badly affected lines over the last 10 years were the Central line with 99 suicides, the Piccadilly line with 92 and the District line with 81.
The Jubilee line recorded the lowest number of suicides with just 27 during the decade. Last year, Tube commuters were delayed by 89 hours in total by suicides, a 137 per cent rise over the last 10 years.
The Northern line suffered the most delays with 29 hours last year, an increase of 131 per cent compared with the year before. The Central line was also badly affected with 17 hours of delays, and the District line suffered 11 hours.
Last year, months in which suicides peaked were May and June which each saw nine attempts across London Underground.
A TfL spokesperson said: "London Underground carries over 3.5 million people across the capital safely each day.
"Person under a train incidents are thankfully rare. Each incident is traumatic for everyone involved, the families, friends, Underground staff and the emergency services."
Reader views (21)
They forget however to note that a lot of our one unders are near existing or closed mental health institutions..... And therefore not necessarily due to the recession.
Sadly suicidal people cannot think rationally about their actions.
I have personally assisted at several and what really annoys me is the odd few who moan about not being able to get home straight away or those trying to take pictures.....would you act the same if it was a relative???... No you would be disgusted.
Please please have some respect for the driver and staff/emergency services who have to pick up the pieces and most of all the family and the unfortunate victim who couldn't see any other way out.
As a colleague has already said, please try and use the Samaritans and get the right help....
- Andy - tube driver, Cambridge, 09/11/2011 22:15
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And the reality of how the current economic difficulties truly affect human beings emotionally hit home at London Underground on Friday when a member of staff with 23 years’ service tragically committed suicide at work. Politicians and executives find it easy to cut costs and "headcount numbers", but what is forgotten how real people are, in some cases, truly traumatised by the prospect of not having a job and cannot see any future.
- Tube Worker, London, 09/11/2011 20:23
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They forget however to note that a lot of our one unders are near existing or closed mental health institutions..... And therefore not necessarily due to the recession.
Sadly suicidal people cannot think rationally about their actions.
I have personally assisted at several and what really annoys me is the odd few who moan about not being able to get home straight away or those trying to take pictures.....would you act the same if it was a relative???... No you would be disgusted.
Please please have some respect for the driver and staff/emergency services who have to pick up the pieces and most of all the family and the unfortunate victim who couldn't see any other way out.
As a colleague has already said, please try and use the Samaritans and get the right help....
- Andy - Tube Driver, Cambridge, 09/11/2011 18:47
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They forget however to note that a lot of our one unders are near existing or closed mental health institutions..... And therefore not necessarily due to the recession.
Sadly suicidal people cannot think rationally about their actions.
I have personally assisted at several and what really annoys me is the odd few who moan about not being able to get home straight away or those trying to take pictures.....would you act the same if it was a relative???... No you would be disgusted.
Please please have some respect for the driver and staff/emergency services who have to pick up the pieces and most of all the family and the unfortunate victim who couldn't see any other way out.
As a colleague has already said, please try and use the Samaritans and get the right help....
- Andy - Tube Driver, Cambridge, 09/11/2011 18:32
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Can we PLEASE stop to consider the psychological impact these incidents have on the tube drivers/LU staff? My late Father worked on the tube for some 36 years, and witnessed first hand the effect a 'jumper' had on the driver (and in his day, the guard too). For some drivers, they could never get in the cab again. Others found even going into an underground station a traumatic ordeal. I know that TfL and the RMT together provide excellent counselling and support for the drivers, their partners and their families and this is to be both recognised and commended. What needs to happen is for TfL and the RMT to look at ways to prevent this happening (as with the Jub line) regardless of the cost. I am certain that we have some excellent design engineers out there who would gladly input their expertise on this issue. Of course, Disgruntled Tube Worker is totally right in asking people to report anything seen as suspicious (I certainly would), and what would help perhaps, even more, are better CCTV cameras, trained staff and instant response. A tall order? Maybe. But now this problem has been brought into the open, we will see attitudes, actions and responses change.
- Gatedweller, People's Republic of Newham, 09/11/2011 18:19
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How can you correlate tube suicides with the recession?
There are many reasons for taking your life, having to use the tube every day being one of them.
- Chris Rea, On the beach, 09/11/2011 12:05
From the article have we been in recession for 10 years ?.
Sorry to Disgruntled Tube Worker, London, 09/11/2011 15:59, I don't have a lot of sympathy for the jumpers, I feel sorry for the driver who turns up to do his days work and then has to face this life changing scenario, A mate of mine was a tube driver, someone jumped in front of his train and got killed, this chap never drove another train and some 3 -4 years later actually committed suicide as a direct ( proven ) result of the suicide, so sorry no sympathy here.
- John Hardon, Watford Herts, 09/11/2011 17:58
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However house prices are ''soaring''. Hmmm
- Carl, London, 09/11/2011 17:54
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I would first like to request anyone who is going to comment on this issue, could you please avoid any derogatory or insensitive remarks about the reasons or about the person who has committed suicide. Although they may be beyond reading your comments, most certainly their spouse, partners or relatives who may be struggling to come to terms with losing their loved one could be.
From my own personal experience, passengers who are contemplating suicide have reached a level of despair that suicide seems to be the only rational way out. I would suggest that anyone reading this who is contemplating suicide there is an alternative. The first step is to let someone know how you feel. It may be a loved one, a friend, the Samaritans, Citizens Advice Bureau, your doctor, charities like Macmillan nurses. They can help.
Finally if you are on a platform and see someone acting in a manner which makes you feel they may be contemplating suicide, please contact a member of staff, if you cannot see one on the platform please press the emergency button on a help point. We can help.
- Disgruntled Tube Worker, London, 09/11/2011 15:59
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It has taken TfL a long time to publish what the rest of us knew already. But, as well as these awful statistics is the very high number of fatalities on Railtrack lines all around the south east of England. Over recent months there seem to have been two or three a week over the network in this area. A terrible increase. I doubt if there is on simple cause for this increase. There but for ....... go the rest of us.
- Mike B, Epsom, Surrey, 09/11/2011 15:48
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All because Cameron only wnts to cut
He is not at all interesred in growing the economy.
(FOR THE MOST BASE AND SELFISH REASONS)
HE HAS TO GO IF WE DON'T GROW.
- Barbara Atwood, Maidenhead, 09/11/2011 15:00
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I once missed my flight back from Brussels to Copenhagen due to someone committing suicide and I had to pay for a new ticket because Virgin airlines
failed to believe me until I produced the paperwork from the train company a few weeks later. Many of us missed our flights and one Japanese woman told us that due to the high rate of suicides at Japanese train stations, the authorities now bill the victims family for the cost of the clean up and inconvenience. Not wishing to sound hartless but if this procedure was adopted in the UK the number of suicides at train stations would fall.
- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 09/11/2011 13:33
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A broken heart has no common sense. Just ask "for whom the bell tolls".
- Charly, London, 09/11/2011 13:28
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Surely it would not cost too much to have a Suicide Service for desperate people to turn to, not just the Samaritans, but something tailored to financially strapped people tempted to kill themselves.
It could perhaps be voiluntarily manned by psychiatrists and financial advisors. Just an idea, but it seems so tragic to kill onself only because of money problems.
- Cameron Platell, London, UK, 09/11/2011 12:47
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I blame Gordon Brown for these figures.
- Clarkson for PM, England, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it., 09/11/2011 12:43
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The jubilee line only has the saftey barriers or platform edge doors at 9 stations and for each single panel is worth thousands of pounds for 1 single panel multiply that by the number of tube stations then multiply that by that number of platforms at each station it would run into millions. Plus all the trains need the equipment to operate the platform edge doors. Not a simple process may I say
- tube worker, london, 09/11/2011 12:31
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The rubbish service on the tube is enough to make anyone top themselves.
- Blowtorch, Surbiton, 09/11/2011 12:15
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It's about the economy, stupid.
That is dozy David Cameron's fault.
Where is the growth supposed to come from ??
- Basil Donn, Basildon, Essex, 09/11/2011 12:11
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How can you correlate tube suicides with the recession?
There are many reasons for taking your life, having to use the tube every day being one of them.
- Chris Rea, On the beach, 09/11/2011 12:05
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The Jubilee line's the lowest due to it being the only one that has safety barriers in place in stations. I know the cost is high to implement, but this should be in place for all lines. i regularly use the Jubilee only and when i use others it feels quite unsafe.
- richinlon, london, 09/11/2011 11:59
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Please folks don't do it. It's all because of Cameron and his tory banker buddies.
- Addy Nuff, East End, 09/11/2011 11:47
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Most of these suicides would be financialy connected,so here we are back with the Banks again.
- Davey_Buoy, Chertsey, 09/11/2011 10:43
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