§ Lord Brightmanasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why most carriages on the London Underground system lack vertical handrails to help passengers who need assistance in boarding or alighting from carriages: and whether handrails can be fitted to those carriages which lack them.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Transport (Lord Brabazon of Tara):I understand that London Underground removed the external vertical handrails because children were using them for "surfing", that is clinging to the outside of a moving train. There was a particularly tragic incident on 13th November 1989, when a nine year-old boy sustained fatal injuries while "surfing" on a District Line train. London Underground recognise that the handrails were of assistance to the elderly and infirm. However, in the circumstances, London Underground have no plans to reintroduce them.