Conductor Courtesy in the London Underground

Only in the UK do you find the most caring of Conductors in cities’ underground train service.

I was travelling on the Circle (yellow) line in London’s Underground, trying to get to Paddington train station, and when we stopped at the second to last stop before reaching Paddington, I hear overhead on the loud speaker, with the doors still open:

To the lady who just got onto the train, did you drop something in between the platforms?

Silence.

Then you hear overhead:

Wave your arm if it’s important.

(To which everyone began giggling in my car.)

And she must have waved her arm, as the next move by the Conductor was:

I’m calling someone over now. To everyone else on the train, we will have a short delay while we work this out.

Everyone groans and the woman next to me says:

Hope it wasn’t for a glove!

To which I had to laugh.

Definitely a Tube first. We must have stayed there with the doors open for at least 10 minutes while they tried to help this woman get whatever it was that she dropped. I’m sure they had to help her after we left too, as the train has to move to physically obtain the item, one would think.

You definitely wouldn’t see this conduct in the New York Metro! There, their mentality is: You dropped something? Tough luck. Closing the doors, next stop…

Leave it to the UK to be courteous even in these highly-populated circumstances. Feeling the love.