A tube driver who has driven on the Bakerloo Line for the last eight years has shared what it’s really like to work on one of TfL’s oldest networks.
It’s a world many innocent commuters aren’t all too familiar with, and as passengers, all we have to do is tap our card, make our way underground and hop on the tube.
But what’s it like for the drivers who operate the trains we use every single day? Are they allowed toilet breaks, and what happens to the tube after the shift? Sarah – affectionately known as Tube Driver Sarah to her TikTok followers – has answered the unknown questions.
Generally speaking, Sarah tends to do late shifts as she’s a night owl – and so in one recent ‘day in the life’ video, she filmed herself waking up from her afternoon nap and having lunch before heading off to work.
Upon arriving, she showed herself ‘booking onto work’ – which means that she’s ‘fit and healthy, ready for work, [with] nothing in my system that would affect my ability to drive.’ Makes sense!
First, she does two Elephant & Castle to Queen’s Park ‘rounders’ – and by that, she means a journey from one end of the line to the other, and back (twice).
Unless you’ve fallen asleep on the tube after one too many tipples, passengers won’t be acquainted with just how long this takes: and according to Sarah, it’s just over two hours.
And yes, there are staff rooms where drivers can eat and take a break (which lasts an hour, as most work lunches do) and these are typically found at the end of the line when clocking on for a shift.
Naturally, because they’re ferrying countless travellers between stations non-stop, there’s no time to go to the toilet while doing a trip from one end of the line to the other – as these are often fitting to tight schedules.
While the train definitely can’t stop mid-way along the line for the driver to have a quick wee break, there is sometimes time between ‘changing ends’ in the middle of a rounder.
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What do all the ‘secret’ London Tube announcements mean?
Inspector Sands
A fire alarm has been operated and staff have two minutes to come to the control room.
Should such a scenario occur, you will hear the announcement:
‘Would Inspector Sands please report to the operations room immediately.’
Codes 1 – 7
The numbered codes are for cleaning staff, and are used by station announcers to direct them to mess.
However, while ‘Inspector Sands’ is the same for every tube station, codes 1 – 7 can vary across the network.
Here are the codes and what they tend to mean:
Code 7 – Anything not fitting these categories.
Code 1 – Blood
Code 2 – Urine/Faeces
Code 3 – Vomit
Code 4 – Spillage
Code 5 – Broken glass
Code 6 – Litter
Bags and personal belongings are also not carried while driving, as Sarah shows herself placing her rucksack in a separate locker.
During the second half of her shift, she makes two round trips again, starting at Stonebridge Park. Sometimes, the trains need to go through a wash in the depot, but as she skipped this step, Sarah just turned the train around by ‘changing ends.’
There’s no need to hop straight back into the driver’s carriage though, as Sarah still had five minutes until the scheduled departure – and so she whipped out her book and enjoyed a brief reading spell, as so many of us do on the commute every single day.
And what happens to the tube at the end of a driver’s working day? Because Sarah was on the late shift, she drove the final southbound Bakerloo route, which meant she needed to ‘empty the train out, close it up and shunt it back to the London Road depot.’
So, the trains don’t sit in the tunnels all night waiting for the early shift – they’re actually moved elsewhere.
‘This move requires going from Elephant & Castle past Lambeth North to the limit of the shunt, and then you change ends in the tunnel and go back up into the depot,’ Sarah explains, noting that on this particular occasion, she was the second to last train to deposit at around 1am.
And yes, all TfL staff are given access to a pre-booked staff taxi late at night – so she even managed to avoid the night bus and get a lift home.
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