Final feral as tube boozing reaches end of the line








June 2, 2008

LONDON: Pete Duffell stood on the platform late on Saturday, swigging a cold beer and ready to party.

Mr Duffell, 24, a professional scuba diver from Kent, and two friends - one with his hair dyed green for the occasion - hauled three plastic bags filled with beer and wine onto a Circle Line Underground train.

At midnight on Saturday, drinking on the Tube would suddenly be banned for the first time in the history of the world's oldest underground train system.

Mr Duffell and thousands of others, many wearing dinner jackets, sombreros and Darth Vader masks, held one last public guzzle to mark the moment.

In parties organised largely on the social networking website Facebook, thousands of revellers transformed the Tube into a huge, sweaty party on Saturday evening.

They sang, hooted, ripped off their shirts in the swampy heat and consumed huge amounts of alcohol, some through funnels, as if there was no tomorrow - which, in the case of drinking on the Tube, there wasn't.

"I am not in favour of anarchy. I am not trying to cause harm. We are just here to have a laugh," said Mr Duffell, who said he started his "Tube crawl" at 2pm and planned to go until the last legal second.



When Boris Johnson took office last month as London's Mayor, one of his first acts was to ban, as of June 1, the London tradition of boozing on the Tube and buses.

"This has hit a nerve. People are asking about civil liberties," said Stephen Emslie, 27, who announced a Tube drinking party on Facebook, prompting more than 4000 people to sign up.

It was perfectly common to see people drinking alcohol on London public transport, and legal to drink in almost any public place in the city.

Supporters of the open-container ban said it was centuries overdue, and a commonsense move that would reduce assaults and other crime. But critics said Mr Johnson's first official decree was a decidedly un-British act of politically correct overkill.

Mr Johnson said the ban fulfilled a campaign pledge to make London's public transport safer and crack down on the drunkenness that leads to assaults and other crime.

The Tube transports more than 3.2 million commuters and tourists each day.




Very weird to an aussie...we are not allowed to drink on public transport, and many parts of the Sydney CBD are designated "alcohol-free zones". Surprising as that may seem


UK beats Russia according to this map. Whoa

witnessed this on the way back from bristol.
it was epic.

Where the fuck is David Mudkips, someone pass that man the mic.

damn sounds like a blast

It's a shame about the drinking ban, Circle Line parties used to be fucking rad

if only this had happened a week later, i could have joined that for a bit of banter, would have been a really rad atmosphere i thinks

ahh well, people will find ways around the regulations

Drink before you get on the tube, then drink when you get off.
Is it really that difficult?

I've never drank on the tube and I don't really understand why people are being such spoilt dicks about it. Grow the fuck up and get to a bar you lazy cunt.

MOAR DAVID MUDKIP THOEGHH

Who?

Tell me about it, Sidewalk are being little dicks about the whole matter...

"Bois is ruining this city! etc etc"

...It's ONE law since he became Mayor... get over it.

i recon he will be quite a good mayor.

the whole point why most people drink on public transport is to have a few drinks in before they get to the pub, so they dont have to spend as much when they get there

why not do it at home?

drinkin with friends after meeting up. no gab to wait between finishin 1 lota drinkin and startingf the next one. sumin to do on the journey. its not causing any1 halm. and most people out past a certain time on friday and saturday nights were doing it. there was no need to change the law. just because a few people cant drink within moderation before the start of a night out, or people getin on transport pissed and casuin trouble

i never knew that as soon as you step off a bus you're in a pub.

Hello AA Meetings!

But seriously, you can't wait half an hour, to an hour till you start drinking again?

Fucking hell...

i could if i wanted to, but i dont. i can go alot longer than half an hour between drinks. but once its a friday and youve started you dont wana stop

so wait, why are you travelling more than half an hour to drink?

i was on the tube the other day.
saw these two guys bottle some dude, was rather sketchy.
The tube then became a crime scene blood/10.

Yeah, it gets dodgy around some parts. I've had the shit knocked out of me by a couple of lads when I was on the Victoria line.

with the hair that you've got, you were asking for it.