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EMAIL TO TFL
[The reference number for my enquiry is: 1013480467]
Dear TFL Complaints Department,
I writing to complain about presence on the Northern Line of a number of carriages which have an unacceptable form of seating that is extremely uncomfortable. The normal seating is comfortable.
While younger people may well be able to use these seats without experiencing discomfort, this is not the case for older people.
The seats can be distinguished fron the normal type by having little or no padding or anatomical shaping. This type of seating has a covering fabric of a lighter shade than that of the normal seating.
There are three results of these design defects, of which none is unexpected.
(1) Every jolt due to track irregularities is transferred to a passengers spine. These irregularities are naturally worse on the tracks on the surface, out of the tunnels. This creates a risk of minor spinal injury. I know this can occur fronm personal experience, haning sustained such an injury in a public bus in a European City on a bus with hard seats, even though one might expect thas rubber tires would absorb the impact.
(2) A journey of any more than a few stops results in numbness in the area at the base of the spine. This is not a trivial matter.
This means that temporary damage has occurred to the nerves at the base of the spine as the result of sustained compression. Although you may consider that the damage is insignificant, the discomfort is very real. Repeated and prolonged compression results in permanent damage to these nerves, something that occurs in the case of ardent cyclists. Compression also results in restriction of blood supply to these areas. In hospital patients, this results in bedsores.
(3) Because the seats are flat or almost flat, passengers slide from side to side during acceleration and deceleration.
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At the moment, when a train arrives, I check the colour of the seating. A light shade means tat the seating is unacceptable, so I then wait for the next train. The delay to my journey is worthwhile if I am to travel in relative comfort.
I have found that, somewhat counter-intuitively, that the drop-down seats in these trains are more comfortable than the fixed seats. The motion of the carriage causes a rocking motion of one's body, so that that the point of compression is continuously changing. This minimises the problems I have described above
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By and large the Northern Line offers a fast and efficient service with comfortable seating.
It is not easy to understand why there are trains on the Northern Line with defective seating.
I would be grateful if you could inform as to why, and for how long, passengers have to tolerate this form of seating.
It is hard to imagine how it is possible in a city that Boris Johnson describes as the best in the world should have some seating that must be worse than that of any other first world country.
It seems that in this respect there is less than adequate regard and concern for the health, safety, and comfort of passengers, especially those who are no longer have natural padding.
There must be standards to which passenger seating must comply.
I would like to ask if passenger comfort is less important then seating that is obviously built down to a price?
Unpadded seating is also to be found in some London buses eg 168 . Hoever, in these cases the seats have curvature in order to minimise the discomfort. The rubber tires of the buses minimises jolting to the spine, but even so numbness can result after a long journey.
Philip Bowman
6 Lynton Avenue
Finchley
London N12 9JH
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EMAIL TO NEWSPAPERS
Dear Editor,
There seem to be more and more carriages on the Northern Line of a number of carriages which have hard seating that is extremely uncomfortable and obviously unacceptable. The normal seating is comfortable. These seats can be distinguished fron the normal type by having little or no padding or anatomical shaping, and have a covering fabric of a lighter shade than the normal dark blue.
Obviously, while younger people may well be able to use these seats without experiencing discomfort, this is not the case for older people.
Every jolt due to track irregularities is transferred directly to passengers' spines. This is even worse where the tracks on the surface, out of the tunnels. This obviously creates a risk of minor spinal injury.
A journey of any more than a few stops results in numbness in the area at the base of the spine. This is not a joke. This means that temporary damage has occurred to the nerves as the result of sustained compression, something that should not be ignored. Repeated and prolonged compression results in permanent damage to these nerves, as some cyclists know. Compression also results in restriction of blood supply to these areas. Sustained, as in the case of hospital patients, this results in bedsores.
Because the seats are almost flat, passengers slide from side to side during acceleration and deceleration.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, I find that the hard drop-down seats in these trains are more comfortable than the fixed seats. The motion of the carriage causes a rocking motion of one's body, so that that the point of compression is continuously changing.
By and large the Northern Line offers a fast and efficient, and comfortable service. So it not easy to understand why there are trains on the Northern Line with seats of such defective design. I cannot understand how is it possible to have such primitive seating on trains in a city that Boris Johnson describes as the best in the world.
Why is there no regard and concern for the health, safety, and comfort of passengers, especially those who are no longer have natural padding?
How long do we have to tolerate this form of seating?
Philip Bowman
6 Lynton Avenue
Finchley
London N12 9JH
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