Transport for London has apologised after Tube passengers were trapped in a tunnel during the evening rush hour — with one man urinating in the carriage.
The eastbound Central line service ground to a halt between Stratford and Leyton on Thursday just before 6pm.
One passenger claimed he witnessed a commuter urinating inside the “stupidly hot and claustrophobic” coach, which stood still due to a broken down train at Leyton.
After more than an hour of waiting, the train terminated at Leyton station, prompting many to seek alternative journeys home.
A Reddit user under the handle ''moggy10” posted on Friday: “Like many people this evening, I was stuck in a tunnel between Stratford and Leyton for over an hour with zero water or aircon during rush hour.
“Some guy ended up p****ing in the corner where a bunch of people were stood — totally not his fault, probably didn't expect to get caught short for such a long time, and he tried to be discreet about it.
“Saying this, the way it was handled from TfL doesn't feel OK. We got frequently (sic) updated saying, ‘Still no news’
“Am I being unreasonable? How can the Central line be so bad compared to other lines?!”
Another traveller, who was stationary on a train behind, added: “Was stuck in the tunnel between Stratford and Leyton for around an hour. Stupidly hot and claustrophobic. It was horrible.”
A third person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Absolutely horrific journey back on the Central line.
“Got the tube from Stratford at 5.50pm and was stuck in the tunnel between Stratford and Leyton for over an hour.
“Train crawled into Leyton then went out of service and they closed the station, had to walk to Leytonstone.”
Leyton is a busy Travelcard Zone 3 station which had approximately 28,000 daily entries and exits in 2023.
It is also the station before Leytonstone — the last stop before the line splits into two branches: one towards Fairlop Loop and the other to Epping.
TfL said an emergency response team was at Leyton ready to meet people and provide welfare and medical attention if needed.
A TfL spokesman told the Standard: “We apologise to Central customers for the disruption to their journeys yesterday.
“This was caused by a train fault in the Leyton area. Engineers worked as quickly as possible to restore a normal service.”
It comes 18 months after TfL insiders raised concerns to The Standard about the state of the Central line — the third busiest on the Tube network.
Whistleblowers warned that passengers faced years of chaos due to “inexcusable” delays in upgrading the three-decade-old trains.
In 2015, TfL launched a £500 million Central Line Improvement Programme (CLIP) to significantly refurbish the existing 1992-stock trains.
The upgrade includes new motors, improved traction systems, CCTV, new seating and wheelchair bays, extending the life of the trains into the 2040s.
The first refurbished train entered service in 2023 and the overall programme is expected to be finished by 2029.
