- Joined
- May 2, 2002
- Messages
- 1,006
I still have the scar on my head from my mums finger nail going into it. I was very small and my mum was carrying lots of shopping, and the only way to stop me from falling down the escalator when I was tripped, was to grab at me. I may have the scar, but I'm still grateful to my mum!
I hate down escalators, I have to have someone stand in front of me, then I'm ok.
Talking about the safety films, my brother bought a DVD of them all. My 5 year old nephew was walking round for days saying "Think, once, think twice, think bike!"
I hate down escalators, I have to have someone stand in front of me, then I'm ok.
Talking about the safety films, my brother bought a DVD of them all. My 5 year old nephew was walking round for days saying "Think, once, think twice, think bike!"
A
Anonymous
Guest
Eek!
Yesterday I saw some poor guy fall down the escalator in the metro, knocking someone else on his way down. There was a moment of panic in the crowd, escalator still moving and these men trying to get up. But luckily, no severed heads or limbs. It's nice to know that it's possible to fall down the escalator (well, from the half way of short-ish escalator) and have only few bruises and maybe mild embarassment.
Or maybe it was just about the only exeption of the rule "escalators kill" and if it happens to me, I won't be that lucky. Err, I think I'll walk today..
Yesterday I saw some poor guy fall down the escalator in the metro, knocking someone else on his way down. There was a moment of panic in the crowd, escalator still moving and these men trying to get up. But luckily, no severed heads or limbs. It's nice to know that it's possible to fall down the escalator (well, from the half way of short-ish escalator) and have only few bruises and maybe mild embarassment.
Or maybe it was just about the only exeption of the rule "escalators kill" and if it happens to me, I won't be that lucky. Err, I think I'll walk today..
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2001
- Messages
- 719
In the college where I used to work in Manchester, the students would jump up and down in unison in the moving lifts, this would actuate the safety pins which lock the lift in the shaft ( the sensors assuming the cable had broken). They could be in there for anything up to 20 or 30 mins. before being rescued by the Otis man, usually missing a lecture, and as there were a lot of young ladies in college, much snogging etc. took place as the lift lights usually went out as well!
BaronHardacre
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2003
- Messages
- 1,075
- Location
- Leeds, Uk
I, myself, as a youth, was involved in a clothing/escalator interface situation. I was about 5 and didn't get of the escalator in time, and got my trouser leg (a rather fetching blue courdroy pair) caught in the mechanism, and my mother and I had to wait for about half an hour until I was released. No injury, though, except to my pride...
escargot
Disciple of Marduk
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2001
- Messages
- 43,330
- Location
- HM The Tower of London
Excellent!
Does it have the scary ones too?
As a young kid I used to enjoy the one where the boy's kite string touched the overhead wires....... BAM! In my imagination, surely, but I remember a huge bang and a sprawled, pathetic corpse.
Made me very interested in overhead wires for some years. Used to watch out for kites in eager anticipation.
................. coat, ta........................
A
Anonymous
Guest
I believe a VHS is available called something like "Charlie says...and other Public Information films of the 70s and 80s"
I saw it for sale once in HMV.
No doubt it would have such classics as "don't dazzle, dip your headlights" and the one about not mixing radials and crossplies.
I remeber one that I found partcularly scary which featured a moustachioed gentleman getting electrocuted by a power drill he had not looked after properly. It had a big impact on me as the bloke looked like my dad, who used to do alot of DIY.
I remember seeing an image of a red wellington boot getting sucked down the side of an escalator, is this the one you all saw ?
This also stuck with me a long time.
I guess those little films really did the trick for us all eh ?
They were so bleak and to the point.
I was always very paranoid about flying kites or playing frisbee near any sort of overhead line !
I saw it for sale once in HMV.
No doubt it would have such classics as "don't dazzle, dip your headlights" and the one about not mixing radials and crossplies.
I remeber one that I found partcularly scary which featured a moustachioed gentleman getting electrocuted by a power drill he had not looked after properly. It had a big impact on me as the bloke looked like my dad, who used to do alot of DIY.
I remember seeing an image of a red wellington boot getting sucked down the side of an escalator, is this the one you all saw ?
This also stuck with me a long time.
I guess those little films really did the trick for us all eh ?
They were so bleak and to the point.
I was always very paranoid about flying kites or playing frisbee near any sort of overhead line !
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2002
- Messages
- 6
Not an escalator, but a 'travellator' in Rome has convinced me to start walking instead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3221621.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3221621.stm
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2002
- Messages
- 1,523
I don't know if the following URL has been posted before, but all you Public Information film lovers will be pleased to see that Charlie the cat is still available to view, along with many more favorites. Here:
Public Information Film Archive
Public Information Film Archive
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2001
- Messages
- 1,921
ArthurASCII said:
I learnt a few weeks ago that Charlie the Cat was voiced by Kenny Everett! Did every one else know that except me?
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2005
- Messages
- 178
My sister's boss when she was 16 had lost her husband through him accidently drilling into a power cable. He was alone in the house and she came back to find him. Was pretty nasty stuff.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2005
- Messages
- 5,521
People who use walkers have a hard time on escalators. When they reach the top it takes them an extra second or two to step away and by that time the individuals immediately following behind fall over them, creating a living logjam jam of people still on the moving stairway.
I had a friend who used a walker and she occasionhally had this problem while attending Symphonic Orchestra concerts at Cincinnati's Music Hall. My friend always requested an attendant to hold the crowd back until she'd reached the top and stepped away. One night a new attendant let the next individuals onto the stairway when my friend was only two-thirds of the way up. The resultant pile of bodies resulted in several people being transported to hospitals. My friend ws the only person to entirely escape injury; she was protected by the steel framework of her walker.
I had a friend who used a walker and she occasionhally had this problem while attending Symphonic Orchestra concerts at Cincinnati's Music Hall. My friend always requested an attendant to hold the crowd back until she'd reached the top and stepped away. One night a new attendant let the next individuals onto the stairway when my friend was only two-thirds of the way up. The resultant pile of bodies resulted in several people being transported to hospitals. My friend ws the only person to entirely escape injury; she was protected by the steel framework of her walker.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2003
- Messages
- 3,268
I was quite affected by the old public service ads that used to run on the TV, the child's wellington boot being shredded for being over the yellow line of the escalator. So much so, that I would have to stand in the middle of an escalator step and would chide my mother if I thought her foot was too close to the line.
Now, I rarely use escalators if I can help it. If there are stairs or a lift then I'll be hotfooting it over to them. I've had two people fall or trip on me on while I've been on an escalator.
The first time they fell past me and I grabbed out and managed to get a grip on them. We were quite near the top and luckily a shop assistant saw what happened and managed to shut the escalator down.
It felt like it took forever, I was holding onto their arm until they could get their balance again. I ended up pulling the muscles between my ribs (which took forever to heal) and dislocating some of my fingers on my left hand. I got took to the hospital while the person who fell needed no treatment at all!
The other time, I was at least five or six steps down from an elderly gent who again, near the top of the escalator, misjudged his footing and began stumbling back down the steps, towards me. When he was more or less on top of me, I gave him an almighty push forward but not before he managed to take chunks out of my face and arms where he was flailing (he had nails that looked as if they hadn't been cut in some time). He managed to get his footing again, gave me a muttered 'hmmmph' and walked off leaving me stunned and bleeding.
Like I say, I always use stairs as having had those two experiences I've been put off from using escalators. I don't mind if they're empty and there's no one about but if it's a busy escalator then no, you won't catch me going on it.
Now, I rarely use escalators if I can help it. If there are stairs or a lift then I'll be hotfooting it over to them. I've had two people fall or trip on me on while I've been on an escalator.
The first time they fell past me and I grabbed out and managed to get a grip on them. We were quite near the top and luckily a shop assistant saw what happened and managed to shut the escalator down.
It felt like it took forever, I was holding onto their arm until they could get their balance again. I ended up pulling the muscles between my ribs (which took forever to heal) and dislocating some of my fingers on my left hand. I got took to the hospital while the person who fell needed no treatment at all!
The other time, I was at least five or six steps down from an elderly gent who again, near the top of the escalator, misjudged his footing and began stumbling back down the steps, towards me. When he was more or less on top of me, I gave him an almighty push forward but not before he managed to take chunks out of my face and arms where he was flailing (he had nails that looked as if they hadn't been cut in some time). He managed to get his footing again, gave me a muttered 'hmmmph' and walked off leaving me stunned and bleeding.
Like I say, I always use stairs as having had those two experiences I've been put off from using escalators. I don't mind if they're empty and there's no one about but if it's a busy escalator then no, you won't catch me going on it.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Health warning over 'dangerous' Crocs
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 2:35am BST 19/09/2007
Crocs, the popular plastic shoes that are reputedly as comfortable as they are ugly, may not be quite so “go-anywhere” as they seem.
Reports are increasing around the world of Croc wearers, invariably young children, getting their toes caught in escalators - sometimes with drastic results.
Made of a soft, synthetic resin, Crocs were designed as a boating shoe because of their non-marking, slip-resistant soles.
Their soaring popularity has been fuelled by their appearance on the feet of the likes of George Bush, Jack Nicholson and Kate Middleton.
The Colorado-based company, which only started five years ago, last month reported sales had jumped by 162 per cent, to pounds 110 million, from April to June this year.
But in Washington DC, the Metro, one of the largest American subway systems, has now put up warning notices about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways.
The posters don’t mention Crocs by name but feature a photo of a crocodile.
A Metro spokesman said that, in the past two years, so-called “shoe entrapments” had gone from being relatively rare to occurring four or five times a week.
In American Girl, an upmarket US toy store chain owned by Mattel, signs warn customers wearing Crocs or flip-flops to use the lifts instead of escalators.
There have also been Croc-related escalator incidents in Singapore and Japan as well as in malls and railway stations across America.
The Japanese government warned its public last week that it had received 39 reports of sandals - mostly Crocs or similar products - getting stuck in escalators between late August and early September.
Most of the reports involved small children, some as young as two.
In Singapore, a two-year-old girl wearing rubber clogs - the brand is unclear - reportedly had her big toe ripped off in an escalator accident last year. :shock:
A common pattern is that the accidents occurred because of the brightly-coloured, clog-like shoes’ flexibility and grip, supposedly two of their main selling points.
Some accidents reportedly occurred because the shoes got caught in the “teeth” at the bottom or top of the escalator, or in the crack between the steps and the side of the escalator.
In the US, a three-year-old boy wearing Crocs suffered a deep gash across the top of his toes on an escalator at Atlanta Airport in June.
A spokesman for the airport terminal said it was one of seven shoe entrapments since May, all but two of which involved Crocs.
During the past two years, shoe entrapments in the Washington subway system have gone from being relatively rare to happening four or five times a week during warm months, although none has caused serious injuries, said Dave Lacosse, who oversees the subway’s 588 escalators, the most of any US transit system.
Rory McDermott, four, caught a Croc in an escalator in a suburban Washington shopping mall last month.
His mother, Jodi, managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.
Mrs McDermott said she initially had no idea what caused the accident until someone at the hospital remarked on Rory’s shoes, prompting her to do an internet search.
She said: “I came home and typed in ’Croc’ and ’escalator,’ and all these stories came up. If I had known, those would never have been worn.”
Kazuo Motoya of Japan’s National Institute of Technology and Evaluation said children may have more escalator accidents because they “bounce around when they stand on escalators, instead of watching where they place their feet".
Crocs says its shoes are “completely safe” and has suggested the accidents are instead due to badly-maintained escalators or people not behaving safely on them.
It said in a statement: “Escalator safety is an issue we take very seriously. In order to stay safe while riding escalators or moving walkways, it’s important to pay attention, especially when stepping onto or off of the escalator or walkway. It’s also important for parents to help young children ride escalators and moving walkways safely."
Crocs said it was working in the US with the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation on public education initiatives.
However, Barbara Allen, the foundation’s executive director, said that after a Crocs official rang her a year ago about possible cooperation, there had been no further contact and the company had not returned her calls.
http://tinyurl.com/3y9q6h
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 2:35am BST 19/09/2007
Crocs, the popular plastic shoes that are reputedly as comfortable as they are ugly, may not be quite so “go-anywhere” as they seem.
Reports are increasing around the world of Croc wearers, invariably young children, getting their toes caught in escalators - sometimes with drastic results.
Made of a soft, synthetic resin, Crocs were designed as a boating shoe because of their non-marking, slip-resistant soles.
Their soaring popularity has been fuelled by their appearance on the feet of the likes of George Bush, Jack Nicholson and Kate Middleton.
The Colorado-based company, which only started five years ago, last month reported sales had jumped by 162 per cent, to pounds 110 million, from April to June this year.
But in Washington DC, the Metro, one of the largest American subway systems, has now put up warning notices about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways.
The posters don’t mention Crocs by name but feature a photo of a crocodile.
A Metro spokesman said that, in the past two years, so-called “shoe entrapments” had gone from being relatively rare to occurring four or five times a week.
In American Girl, an upmarket US toy store chain owned by Mattel, signs warn customers wearing Crocs or flip-flops to use the lifts instead of escalators.
There have also been Croc-related escalator incidents in Singapore and Japan as well as in malls and railway stations across America.
The Japanese government warned its public last week that it had received 39 reports of sandals - mostly Crocs or similar products - getting stuck in escalators between late August and early September.
Most of the reports involved small children, some as young as two.
In Singapore, a two-year-old girl wearing rubber clogs - the brand is unclear - reportedly had her big toe ripped off in an escalator accident last year. :shock:
A common pattern is that the accidents occurred because of the brightly-coloured, clog-like shoes’ flexibility and grip, supposedly two of their main selling points.
Some accidents reportedly occurred because the shoes got caught in the “teeth” at the bottom or top of the escalator, or in the crack between the steps and the side of the escalator.
In the US, a three-year-old boy wearing Crocs suffered a deep gash across the top of his toes on an escalator at Atlanta Airport in June.
A spokesman for the airport terminal said it was one of seven shoe entrapments since May, all but two of which involved Crocs.
During the past two years, shoe entrapments in the Washington subway system have gone from being relatively rare to happening four or five times a week during warm months, although none has caused serious injuries, said Dave Lacosse, who oversees the subway’s 588 escalators, the most of any US transit system.
Rory McDermott, four, caught a Croc in an escalator in a suburban Washington shopping mall last month.
His mother, Jodi, managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.
Mrs McDermott said she initially had no idea what caused the accident until someone at the hospital remarked on Rory’s shoes, prompting her to do an internet search.
She said: “I came home and typed in ’Croc’ and ’escalator,’ and all these stories came up. If I had known, those would never have been worn.”
Kazuo Motoya of Japan’s National Institute of Technology and Evaluation said children may have more escalator accidents because they “bounce around when they stand on escalators, instead of watching where they place their feet".
Crocs says its shoes are “completely safe” and has suggested the accidents are instead due to badly-maintained escalators or people not behaving safely on them.
It said in a statement: “Escalator safety is an issue we take very seriously. In order to stay safe while riding escalators or moving walkways, it’s important to pay attention, especially when stepping onto or off of the escalator or walkway. It’s also important for parents to help young children ride escalators and moving walkways safely."
Crocs said it was working in the US with the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation on public education initiatives.
However, Barbara Allen, the foundation’s executive director, said that after a Crocs official rang her a year ago about possible cooperation, there had been no further contact and the company had not returned her calls.
http://tinyurl.com/3y9q6h
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2006
- Messages
- 98
I had my bottom caught in the bottom of an escalator when I was 5. I was picking fruit pastels up for my little sister as she had dropped them. As my jeans and then my bottom started being pulled into the escalator people behind me just steped over staring.
I dont remember too much about it other than not being to sit down for ages, and being given a bar of galaxy and can of coke to help me feel better.
The plus side was I never had to wear jeans again, as when I cried whilst my mother tried to put me in trousers, she was then convinced it was because it reminded me of the accident!
(All I wanted was to wear dresses)
I dont remember too much about it other than not being to sit down for ages, and being given a bar of galaxy and can of coke to help me feel better.
The plus side was I never had to wear jeans again, as when I cried whilst my mother tried to put me in trousers, she was then convinced it was because it reminded me of the accident!
(All I wanted was to wear dresses)
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Girl critical after Primark fall
A three-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after falling about 100ft (30m) from an escalator in Liverpool's Primark store.
The toddler was travelling up to the third floor with her family when she fell through a gap between the escalators to the lower ground floor.
She was taken to hospital where she is said to be suffering from broken bones and internal injuries.
The Church Street fashion store was closed after the incident.
The shutters of the shop were brought down on Friday afternoon as police and health and safety officers were called to investigate.
Merseyside Police said emergency services were called at about 1330 BST and the child was taken by ambulance to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for treatment.
Officers spent the afternoon searching CCTV images and questioning staff and shoppers who may have seen the child fall.
A spokesman said an investigation was now being carried out by Liverpool City Council and the Health and Safety Executive.
A Primark spokesman said: "We are obviously profoundly shocked and saddened to learn of the accident in our Liverpool store this afternoon.
"We are doing all we can to assist the authorities in their investigation.
"All our thoughts are with the little girl and her family."
The discount fashion store, which at 84,000 sq ft is one of the biggest in the UK, opened last September after a major redevelopment of what had been a Littlewoods store.
It covers five floors and is even larger than the branch on London's Oxford Street.
On its opening day, eager shoppers queued around the block to be the first in and crash barriers were erected outside the building to avoid a scrum.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/mers ... 330810.stm
A three-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after falling about 100ft (30m) from an escalator in Liverpool's Primark store.
The toddler was travelling up to the third floor with her family when she fell through a gap between the escalators to the lower ground floor.
She was taken to hospital where she is said to be suffering from broken bones and internal injuries.
The Church Street fashion store was closed after the incident.
The shutters of the shop were brought down on Friday afternoon as police and health and safety officers were called to investigate.
Merseyside Police said emergency services were called at about 1330 BST and the child was taken by ambulance to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for treatment.
Officers spent the afternoon searching CCTV images and questioning staff and shoppers who may have seen the child fall.
A spokesman said an investigation was now being carried out by Liverpool City Council and the Health and Safety Executive.
A Primark spokesman said: "We are obviously profoundly shocked and saddened to learn of the accident in our Liverpool store this afternoon.
"We are doing all we can to assist the authorities in their investigation.
"All our thoughts are with the little girl and her family."
The discount fashion store, which at 84,000 sq ft is one of the biggest in the UK, opened last September after a major redevelopment of what had been a Littlewoods store.
It covers five floors and is even larger than the branch on London's Oxford Street.
On its opening day, eager shoppers queued around the block to be the first in and crash barriers were erected outside the building to avoid a scrum.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/mers ... 330810.stm
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Japan calls for Crocs redesign after injuries
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wednesday April 23, 2008
The Guardian
To their millions of devotees they are the perfect summer accoutrement; to their detractors they are the footwear for people who have abandoned all sense of style. Now Crocs are the target of a stern safety warning issued by the Japanese authorities.
Japan's trade ministry has asked the US manufacturer of the ultra-light plastic clogs to improve the material and design of the footwear following a rash of accidents in which wearers, mainly children, were injured while using escalators.
Victims have suffered broken toes, gashes and bruising after their shoes became trapped between the steps and the side of the escalator.
The ministry has also asked Japan's railways stations and department stores to display warnings about the perils, particularly for small children, of wearing the highly flexible shoes on escalators.
It said that last year Crocs or other lightweight plastic shoes had been involved in 65 accidents between June and November - the height of the Croc-wearing season.
Tests by Japan's National Institute of Technology and Evaluation found that the shoes, made mainly from polyethylene resin, were susceptible to "catching" on escalators and moving walkways.
Crocs, whose headquarters are near Denver, has started improving its shoes in response to concerns in Japan, where it has sold 3.9m pairs.
But the firm said that most of the escalator accidents, which have been recorded in 10 countries including the US, were caused by poor "user riding behaviour" rather than the shoes themselves.
Last year a two-year-old girl wearing rubber clogs had her big toe ripped off in an escalator accident in Singapore.
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/fas ... 95,00.html
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wednesday April 23, 2008
The Guardian
To their millions of devotees they are the perfect summer accoutrement; to their detractors they are the footwear for people who have abandoned all sense of style. Now Crocs are the target of a stern safety warning issued by the Japanese authorities.
Japan's trade ministry has asked the US manufacturer of the ultra-light plastic clogs to improve the material and design of the footwear following a rash of accidents in which wearers, mainly children, were injured while using escalators.
Victims have suffered broken toes, gashes and bruising after their shoes became trapped between the steps and the side of the escalator.
The ministry has also asked Japan's railways stations and department stores to display warnings about the perils, particularly for small children, of wearing the highly flexible shoes on escalators.
It said that last year Crocs or other lightweight plastic shoes had been involved in 65 accidents between June and November - the height of the Croc-wearing season.
Tests by Japan's National Institute of Technology and Evaluation found that the shoes, made mainly from polyethylene resin, were susceptible to "catching" on escalators and moving walkways.
Crocs, whose headquarters are near Denver, has started improving its shoes in response to concerns in Japan, where it has sold 3.9m pairs.
But the firm said that most of the escalator accidents, which have been recorded in 10 countries including the US, were caused by poor "user riding behaviour" rather than the shoes themselves.
Last year a two-year-old girl wearing rubber clogs had her big toe ripped off in an escalator accident in Singapore.
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/fas ... 95,00.html
- Joined
- May 3, 2004
- Messages
- 331
Greetings,
For the past dozen years I have been an elevator mechanic. I have been trained to work on anything that moves people, including escalators.
I have installed and worked on a few escalators.
I hate them. I call them "grinders".
The plate at the top or the bottom of an escalator is called a "comb plate"
The idea is that the plate will comb out much of the crap that people throw away, or lose.
There is a safety circuit that will protect the passenger at all times!
That is a FACT. If the comb plate lifts more than 3/16s of an inch the machine shall shut down.
So all these stories about people getting injured on escalators are stories about some guy not doing his job.
I am a vertical transport mechanic, Elevators transport more people safely than all other public transportation combined world wide.
Some jobs are serious.
PEACE!
=^..^=217
For the past dozen years I have been an elevator mechanic. I have been trained to work on anything that moves people, including escalators.
I have installed and worked on a few escalators.
I hate them. I call them "grinders".
The plate at the top or the bottom of an escalator is called a "comb plate"
The idea is that the plate will comb out much of the crap that people throw away, or lose.
There is a safety circuit that will protect the passenger at all times!
That is a FACT. If the comb plate lifts more than 3/16s of an inch the machine shall shut down.
So all these stories about people getting injured on escalators are stories about some guy not doing his job.
I am a vertical transport mechanic, Elevators transport more people safely than all other public transportation combined world wide.
Some jobs are serious.
PEACE!
=^..^=217
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Mystery over Tube escalator etiquette cleared up by restored film
Jack Malvern
Passengers stand on the right on the Tube - but drive on the left, contrary to most other countries
Escalator etiquette in most countries tends to match the rules of the road. In New York and Taipei, motorists and escalator users keep to the right, while in Singapore and Tokyo both keep to the left.
So why do passengers on the London Underground stand on the right-hand side of escalators when the rules of the road dictate that we drive on the left?
The mystery has been solved by a silent film from the 1920s that has been restored recently for The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival.
A visual joke in Underground, the first film to use extensive footage of the Tube, shows how the design of early escalators meant that it was important to step off with the right foot.
Unlike modern “comb” escalators, where the end of the moving stairway is at right angles to the direction of travel, older “shunt” escalators ended with a diagonal so that the stairway finished sooner for the right foot than for the left.
The idea was to allow passengers to keep their left foot on a moving stairway as they stepped off with their right.
Passengers who chose not to walk down the escalators were asked to stand on the right so that anyone wishing to overtake them at the end would be able to take advantage of the extra section of moving stairway.
Anthony Asquith, the son of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, who became famous in his own right for directing films such as Pygmalion and The Browning Version, decided to use the escalator design for comedic purposes by showing a soldier dithering over how to get off.
The sequence shows the soldier looking worried as he sees a sign that reads: “Step off: right foot first.” He looks over his shoulder at his commanding officer, who would have insisted that soldiers always begin marching with their left foot. In his confusion, he stumbles and is thrown forward with his kit bag.
Simon Murphy, a curator at the London Transport Museum, said that historians had assumed that the rule about standing on the right was an arbitrary decision but the Underground footage suggests otherwise.
“It’s a good theory and it’s probably true,” he said. “It’s all down to whether or not you think someone thought through all of this — but most of the time they did think things through in detail. They made scale models of stations, so they thought hard about passenger flows.”
When shunt escalators were replaced by comb escalators from 1924 onwards, the rule stayed in place and continued to mystify foreigners who expect British people to overtake on the right, as we do on roads.
etc...
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/london_film_festival/article6883065.ece
Jack Malvern
Passengers stand on the right on the Tube - but drive on the left, contrary to most other countries
Escalator etiquette in most countries tends to match the rules of the road. In New York and Taipei, motorists and escalator users keep to the right, while in Singapore and Tokyo both keep to the left.
So why do passengers on the London Underground stand on the right-hand side of escalators when the rules of the road dictate that we drive on the left?
The mystery has been solved by a silent film from the 1920s that has been restored recently for The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival.
A visual joke in Underground, the first film to use extensive footage of the Tube, shows how the design of early escalators meant that it was important to step off with the right foot.
Unlike modern “comb” escalators, where the end of the moving stairway is at right angles to the direction of travel, older “shunt” escalators ended with a diagonal so that the stairway finished sooner for the right foot than for the left.
The idea was to allow passengers to keep their left foot on a moving stairway as they stepped off with their right.
Passengers who chose not to walk down the escalators were asked to stand on the right so that anyone wishing to overtake them at the end would be able to take advantage of the extra section of moving stairway.
Anthony Asquith, the son of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, who became famous in his own right for directing films such as Pygmalion and The Browning Version, decided to use the escalator design for comedic purposes by showing a soldier dithering over how to get off.
The sequence shows the soldier looking worried as he sees a sign that reads: “Step off: right foot first.” He looks over his shoulder at his commanding officer, who would have insisted that soldiers always begin marching with their left foot. In his confusion, he stumbles and is thrown forward with his kit bag.
Simon Murphy, a curator at the London Transport Museum, said that historians had assumed that the rule about standing on the right was an arbitrary decision but the Underground footage suggests otherwise.
“It’s a good theory and it’s probably true,” he said. “It’s all down to whether or not you think someone thought through all of this — but most of the time they did think things through in detail. They made scale models of stations, so they thought hard about passenger flows.”
When shunt escalators were replaced by comb escalators from 1924 onwards, the rule stayed in place and continued to mystify foreigners who expect British people to overtake on the right, as we do on roads.
etc...
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/london_film_festival/article6883065.ece
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My Grandad worked on the docks in Liverpool (approx 1930's) and he was loading up the back of a lorry which had a chain holding the back of the lorry open. He jumped down off the back holding the chain and landed minus his finger which had got caught in the chain!
The thing is, he didn't actually notice until his mate said 'Frank, where's your finger?' :shock:
The thing is, he didn't actually notice until his mate said 'Frank, where's your finger?' :shock:
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Boy, 4, lucky to be alive after he is crushed between two escalators
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:44 PM on 18th December 2009
A four-year-old boy had his young age to thank after surviving a horrifying accident that saw him crushed between two escalators.
Doctors said that had Stevie Webb been older, his neck would have been snapped when he was bent double in the foot-wide gap between two ramp-style travelators.
The incident occurred when Stevie's mother turned her back and he sneaked between the two walkways, which were moving in opposite directions, in the Savacentre in Colliers Wood, south-west London.
In seconds his clothes were caught and Stevie was whipped round backwards so hard his head was level with his ankles. :shock:
His horrified mother hit the machine's emergency stop button before dragging him free with the help of a friend.
The force of the impact and twisting motion left Stevie with discoloured eyes and face because blood vessels burst under the skin.
Doctors told Stevie's parents that had their son been any older, and his bones more set, the force of the accident would have snapped his neck.
It is expected to take at least a month for Stevie's complexion to return to normal.
An investigation has now been launched at the Savacentre.
Stevie's father Darren Webb, 39, from Mitcham, Surrey, said his son's injuries were so severe he resembled the blue-purple alien characters from the film 'Avatar'.
He said: 'It's left him looking like an extra out of that new Avatar film. He doesn't have any white left in his eyes and it could be months until the colour in his face goes back to normal.
'The doctors said he'd been incredibly lucky because his neck and body were so contorted. It's only because he's so young and supple that his neck didn't break.'
Mr Webb was in the centre's car park waiting to pick up his family when the accident happened. He immediately rushed unconscious Stevie to St George's Hospital, Tooting, less than a mile away.
But Mr Webb said he was planning to take legal action against the centre after its manager refused to take responsibility for the accident, claiming the boy's mother was not watching him at the time.
Mr Webb, who has spoken to centre manager Eric Sante and watched CCTV footage of the accident, said: 'I'll put my hands up and agree my child was playing while his mum's back was turned - but four-year-olds do that sort of thing.
'There was no kind of protection or barrier to stop this from happening but the shopping centre manager still wants to make out that this is our fault.
'It's unbelievable - my son nearly died.'
Mr Sante said: 'Mr Webb came in on Monday screaming and demanding to see CCTV footage which we let him do.
'I sat him down and apologised but told him I was in no position to accept responsibility for what happened.'
He added the CCTV footage showed Stevie playing next to the travelator while his mother was on the phone.
The incident has already been referred to the shopping centre's legal team.
MB Trust, which manages the area where the walkways operate, said it was officially checked twice a year and the most recent check was in November.
Juliet Bray, marketing director of MB Real Estate, an arm of MB Trust, said: 'It's a horrible incident and I can't imagine how upsetting it must have been for the parents and the little boy.
'I'm confident that we've done what is needed to make it safe. I'm very moved and I know that all of my colleagues are too and they will take every step necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again.'
The travelator is situated near to the shopping centre's Sainsbury's store.
A Sainsbury's spokesman said: 'We would like to express our sympathies to the Webb family for this incident. We have been in contact with MB Real Estate who confirmed that they are taking every possible step to prevent something like this happening again.
'As soon as our colleagues at the store were made aware of the accident they began to give first aid and also called an ambulance.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0a80JLbKE
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:44 PM on 18th December 2009
A four-year-old boy had his young age to thank after surviving a horrifying accident that saw him crushed between two escalators.
Doctors said that had Stevie Webb been older, his neck would have been snapped when he was bent double in the foot-wide gap between two ramp-style travelators.
The incident occurred when Stevie's mother turned her back and he sneaked between the two walkways, which were moving in opposite directions, in the Savacentre in Colliers Wood, south-west London.
In seconds his clothes were caught and Stevie was whipped round backwards so hard his head was level with his ankles. :shock:
His horrified mother hit the machine's emergency stop button before dragging him free with the help of a friend.
The force of the impact and twisting motion left Stevie with discoloured eyes and face because blood vessels burst under the skin.
Doctors told Stevie's parents that had their son been any older, and his bones more set, the force of the accident would have snapped his neck.
It is expected to take at least a month for Stevie's complexion to return to normal.
An investigation has now been launched at the Savacentre.
Stevie's father Darren Webb, 39, from Mitcham, Surrey, said his son's injuries were so severe he resembled the blue-purple alien characters from the film 'Avatar'.
He said: 'It's left him looking like an extra out of that new Avatar film. He doesn't have any white left in his eyes and it could be months until the colour in his face goes back to normal.
'The doctors said he'd been incredibly lucky because his neck and body were so contorted. It's only because he's so young and supple that his neck didn't break.'
Mr Webb was in the centre's car park waiting to pick up his family when the accident happened. He immediately rushed unconscious Stevie to St George's Hospital, Tooting, less than a mile away.
But Mr Webb said he was planning to take legal action against the centre after its manager refused to take responsibility for the accident, claiming the boy's mother was not watching him at the time.
Mr Webb, who has spoken to centre manager Eric Sante and watched CCTV footage of the accident, said: 'I'll put my hands up and agree my child was playing while his mum's back was turned - but four-year-olds do that sort of thing.
'There was no kind of protection or barrier to stop this from happening but the shopping centre manager still wants to make out that this is our fault.
'It's unbelievable - my son nearly died.'
Mr Sante said: 'Mr Webb came in on Monday screaming and demanding to see CCTV footage which we let him do.
'I sat him down and apologised but told him I was in no position to accept responsibility for what happened.'
He added the CCTV footage showed Stevie playing next to the travelator while his mother was on the phone.
The incident has already been referred to the shopping centre's legal team.
MB Trust, which manages the area where the walkways operate, said it was officially checked twice a year and the most recent check was in November.
Juliet Bray, marketing director of MB Real Estate, an arm of MB Trust, said: 'It's a horrible incident and I can't imagine how upsetting it must have been for the parents and the little boy.
'I'm confident that we've done what is needed to make it safe. I'm very moved and I know that all of my colleagues are too and they will take every step necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again.'
The travelator is situated near to the shopping centre's Sainsbury's store.
A Sainsbury's spokesman said: 'We would like to express our sympathies to the Webb family for this incident. We have been in contact with MB Real Estate who confirmed that they are taking every possible step to prevent something like this happening again.
'As soon as our colleagues at the store were made aware of the accident they began to give first aid and also called an ambulance.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0a80JLbKE
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- Aug 7, 2001
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Luckily no carnage here, and no fault of the escalator either:
Hero catches escalator fall boy in Turkey
Page last updated at 15:23 GMT, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 16:23 UK
A four-year-old boy has narrowly escaped injury after falling from an escalator after climbing up the side of it. He was caught by a local shopkeeper, who ran to catch him.
The incident happened at a shopping centre in Istanbul.
Quick-thinking shopkeeper Ali Apari said he saw the boy, who was visiting the centre with his father, playing near the escalator.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10166217.stm
Good video!
Hero catches escalator fall boy in Turkey
Page last updated at 15:23 GMT, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 16:23 UK
A four-year-old boy has narrowly escaped injury after falling from an escalator after climbing up the side of it. He was caught by a local shopkeeper, who ran to catch him.
The incident happened at a shopping centre in Istanbul.
Quick-thinking shopkeeper Ali Apari said he saw the boy, who was visiting the centre with his father, playing near the escalator.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10166217.stm
Good video!
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Man loses toe in Nottingham escalator accident
A man has lost a toe after his foot was trapped in a shopping centre escalator in Nottingham.
The man was taken to Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre for treatment after the accident on Thursday, East Midlands Ambulance Service said.
Nottingham City Council's Environmental Health section has closed down the escalator at the West End Arcade and started an investigation.
An eyewitness said the man was "screaming in agony".
Record shop owner David Rose said the man was trapped for about 25 minutes. He said: "I realised he was in a lot of pain - he was trapped and people were trying to cut him free."
Nuri Zeglm, owner of Safari Shoes, said: "We heard some screaming for help - and we saw a man on the escalator with about three people trying to help him."
Mr Zeglm said the man was in his 20s and someone was holding his hand to comfort him.
"Somebody had stopped it but he couldn't get his foot out. He was screaming in agony," he added.
A Nottingham City Council spokesman said the area around the escalator at the arcade on Upper Parliament Street would remain cordoned off until the investigation was finished.
A fire service spokesman said: "The firefighters did not release him, but they did help to stabilise him until the paramedics arrived.
"He had lost quite a lot of blood so he was given first aid to help stop the bleeding."
Eyewitness Troy Bartholomew, who works at a barber shop in the arcade, said: "He was screaming - and a friend of mine went to help him."
He added: "The escalator is well maintained - they come at least once a month to maintain it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-17402519
A man has lost a toe after his foot was trapped in a shopping centre escalator in Nottingham.
The man was taken to Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre for treatment after the accident on Thursday, East Midlands Ambulance Service said.
Nottingham City Council's Environmental Health section has closed down the escalator at the West End Arcade and started an investigation.
An eyewitness said the man was "screaming in agony".
Record shop owner David Rose said the man was trapped for about 25 minutes. He said: "I realised he was in a lot of pain - he was trapped and people were trying to cut him free."
Nuri Zeglm, owner of Safari Shoes, said: "We heard some screaming for help - and we saw a man on the escalator with about three people trying to help him."
Mr Zeglm said the man was in his 20s and someone was holding his hand to comfort him.
"Somebody had stopped it but he couldn't get his foot out. He was screaming in agony," he added.
A Nottingham City Council spokesman said the area around the escalator at the arcade on Upper Parliament Street would remain cordoned off until the investigation was finished.
A fire service spokesman said: "The firefighters did not release him, but they did help to stabilise him until the paramedics arrived.
"He had lost quite a lot of blood so he was given first aid to help stop the bleeding."
Eyewitness Troy Bartholomew, who works at a barber shop in the arcade, said: "He was screaming - and a friend of mine went to help him."
He added: "The escalator is well maintained - they come at least once a month to maintain it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-17402519
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- Mar 9, 2002
- Messages
- 13,692
It doesn't really explain how an adult got his toe stuck. Reading one of the linked stories on the BBC site, from thisisnottingham, it mentions soft-toed shoes, but surely modern escalators are designed to accommodate that?
A slight aside, but the thisisnottingham site, like its counterpart here, thisisbristol, appears to be staffed by seven year olds. The story reads like a Ladybird "Peter and Jane" story (book 12 - "Peter Suffers a Traumatic Injury")..
It's here. Sample extract:
A slight aside, but the thisisnottingham site, like its counterpart here, thisisbristol, appears to be staffed by seven year olds. The story reads like a Ladybird "Peter and Jane" story (book 12 - "Peter Suffers a Traumatic Injury")..
It's here. Sample extract:
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- Aug 7, 2001
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The aftermath:
Nottingham man tells how escalator tore off his big toe
A man has had to learn to walk again after an escalator ripped off his big toe in a Nottingham shopping centre.
Michael Reddington, 24, thought his left foot was going to "snap off" when it became stuck in the escalator at the West End Arcade.
He and a man from a nearby shop used a screwdriver and Allen key to release the panels trapping his feet.
Firefighters arrived and lifted Mr Reddington out after he was trapped for 25 minutes.
Mr Reddington, who lives in the St Ann's area of Nottingham, said: "Straight away it was agonising pain.
"It felt like the front end of my foot was going to snap off. The pressure was unbearable and the pain was ridiculous."
Mr Reddington said his foot became trapped in a gap where the steps of the escalator met the platform at the top.
"My foot started to be crushed and my toe eventually ripped off," he said.
"I started shouting for someone to press the stop button but there was no-one around."
Mr Reddington said it felt like seven or eight minutes before the escalator was stopped.
He said he was grateful to the man from the barber shop who helped free him.
When he looked down and saw his foot he thought his injuries would be "life-changing".
"My toe was gone, there was blood everywhere, there was bone sticking out, there was flesh all over," he said.
The two toes next to it were also "split in two".
"There was blood all over the escalators. People were running off crying and some people nearly fainted," he said.
"It was like something out of a horror film. I had never seen anything like it, not on anyone else either, so to have it happen to me it was just bizarre."
Firefighters found his big toe but Mr Reddington decided not to have it attached.
"They told me [in hospital] I could keep my toe but it could die on my foot and cause gangrene and I could lose my leg, so I told them to throw it."
The accident happened on 15 March and doctors told Mr Reddington he would not be able to walk for six months.
However, he was able to walk on crutches within a month and can now jog slowly.
"I'm shocked, the doctors are shocked. I think it's a testament to how the human body can heal itself," he said.
He is hoping to return to work, as a sound engineer at Stealth nightclub, within the next few weeks.
"I will never moonwalk again but I will get over that," he said.
"I can laugh about it now because it's such a bizarre thing that happened.
"I'm quite proud of myself that I've hit back this fast."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-18105599
Nottingham man tells how escalator tore off his big toe
A man has had to learn to walk again after an escalator ripped off his big toe in a Nottingham shopping centre.
Michael Reddington, 24, thought his left foot was going to "snap off" when it became stuck in the escalator at the West End Arcade.
He and a man from a nearby shop used a screwdriver and Allen key to release the panels trapping his feet.
Firefighters arrived and lifted Mr Reddington out after he was trapped for 25 minutes.
Mr Reddington, who lives in the St Ann's area of Nottingham, said: "Straight away it was agonising pain.
"It felt like the front end of my foot was going to snap off. The pressure was unbearable and the pain was ridiculous."
Mr Reddington said his foot became trapped in a gap where the steps of the escalator met the platform at the top.
"My foot started to be crushed and my toe eventually ripped off," he said.
"I started shouting for someone to press the stop button but there was no-one around."
Mr Reddington said it felt like seven or eight minutes before the escalator was stopped.
He said he was grateful to the man from the barber shop who helped free him.
When he looked down and saw his foot he thought his injuries would be "life-changing".
"My toe was gone, there was blood everywhere, there was bone sticking out, there was flesh all over," he said.
The two toes next to it were also "split in two".
"There was blood all over the escalators. People were running off crying and some people nearly fainted," he said.
"It was like something out of a horror film. I had never seen anything like it, not on anyone else either, so to have it happen to me it was just bizarre."
Firefighters found his big toe but Mr Reddington decided not to have it attached.
"They told me [in hospital] I could keep my toe but it could die on my foot and cause gangrene and I could lose my leg, so I told them to throw it."
The accident happened on 15 March and doctors told Mr Reddington he would not be able to walk for six months.
However, he was able to walk on crutches within a month and can now jog slowly.
"I'm shocked, the doctors are shocked. I think it's a testament to how the human body can heal itself," he said.
He is hoping to return to work, as a sound engineer at Stealth nightclub, within the next few weeks.
"I will never moonwalk again but I will get over that," he said.
"I can laugh about it now because it's such a bizarre thing that happened.
"I'm quite proud of myself that I've hit back this fast."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-18105599
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Commuters injured as US train station escalator starts going backwards
[Video: Amateur footage captures the moment of panic as an escalator changes direction at a commuter rail station in New Jersey]
3:37PM GMT 08 Jan 2013
Screams of panic engulfed an American commuter rail station in New Jersey on Monday when an ascending escalator changed direction and started to head backwards, causing some people to jump off mid-ride. :shock:
A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Exchange Place PATH station, said five people were injured when the escalator malfunctioned during morning rush hour.
Nick Lukish, a commuter from New York City said he was midway up the escalator when the moving staircase unexpectedly changed direction.
"There was a stampede at the base of the escalator," Mr Lukish said.
"People started to panic and yell and scream, and I saw some people jump over to the down side of the escalator, so I jumped."
Two of the station's three escalators were shut down after the incident, forcing thousands of commuters to walk up the 128 stairs to the street.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvid ... wards.html
"128 stairs to the street" - that's more steps than Jacob's Ladder in Falmouth, which has eleventy-one!
[Video: Amateur footage captures the moment of panic as an escalator changes direction at a commuter rail station in New Jersey]
3:37PM GMT 08 Jan 2013
Screams of panic engulfed an American commuter rail station in New Jersey on Monday when an ascending escalator changed direction and started to head backwards, causing some people to jump off mid-ride. :shock:
A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Exchange Place PATH station, said five people were injured when the escalator malfunctioned during morning rush hour.
Nick Lukish, a commuter from New York City said he was midway up the escalator when the moving staircase unexpectedly changed direction.
"There was a stampede at the base of the escalator," Mr Lukish said.
"People started to panic and yell and scream, and I saw some people jump over to the down side of the escalator, so I jumped."
Two of the station's three escalators were shut down after the incident, forcing thousands of commuters to walk up the 128 stairs to the street.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvid ... wards.html
"128 stairs to the street" - that's more steps than Jacob's Ladder in Falmouth, which has eleventy-one!