23 passengers, including a child, were trapped in a lift at Elephant and Castle station for nearly an hour-and-a-half on Friday night.

The passengers' ordeal, which began at around 21:30, was prolonged unnecessarily because inexperienced and inadequately trained managers drafted in to scab on striking station staff had been left in charge, RMT said today.                                     

In our article on Friday (Tube: action against harassment) we reported that underground staff would be taking action for the reinstatement of Jerome Bowes. Jerome was sacked for the crime of defending himself against a drunken assault on New Year’s Eve. The action was solid – so solid that the service was only kept running by bringing in scab managers untrained in safety procedures.

"This incident underlines why we believe it is irresponsible to leave scab managers in charge of any Tube station, not least a busy one with lifts," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today. 

"We understand that managers left floundering by the emergency delayed calling the fire brigade, and that the fire service eventually responded to a call from one of the trapped passengers.

 "Under normal circumstances if it took more than 20 minutes to get people out, managers would be demanding to know why it had taken so long, and if it took more than an hour they would be looking for someone to discipline.” Perhaps they should discipline themselves! 

The failsafe systems on the lifts at Elephant and Castle are unusual, but the people normally staffing the station are familiar with them. 

Instead of parachuting in scab managers without the training, local experience and knowledge to cope when things go wrong, LUL should be sorting out the injustice to Jerome Bowes that has led to this dispute in the first place. 

Cack-handed management have managed to give passengers a nasty scare and escalate the dispute at the same time.