Man who cleaned London Underground seats reveals how dirty they really are

A man who voluntarily cleaned seats on the London Underground has revealed just how gross they are.

Footage shows cleaner Steven James power washing chairs on the Northern line, before cutting to the water which was almost black with dirt.

Steven, who goes by ‘Mr Carpet Clean’, said the dirt extracted was ‘vast’ and is a serious long term issue.

He said: ‘We do this every day but that dirt was excessive. It is definitely up there with one of the worst we have seen.’

But Steven was told by Transport for London he was the one putting passengers at risk for cleaning the seats.

They insisted they give Tube carriages a deep clean ‘around every 28 days’, with seats checked everyday as part of a pre-service clean.

The transport network added the cleaner showing himself pouring the dirty water into a bucket on the platform was a health risk to passengers.

But when asked if he was surprised London Underground’s seating was thoroughly cleaned once a month, the cleaner told the BBC: ‘The bucket gives you your answer.’

The cleaner said he will now not be doing it again, and advised against any other selfless power washers from going on the Tube to copy.

Steven said he has since taken down the video, saying: ‘It is not for me to judge another organisation or company on their cleaning regime.’

He added he expects a similar level of dirt in areas of London, including buses and doctors surgeries.

‘I have got quite a good following on Instagram, and they like seeing the dirty buckets and results of what we clean. The dirtier the better,’ he said.

‘We thought of lots of very high traffic areas such as buses, cinemas, theatres, doctors surgeries etc. and decided Tubes were the best.’

Transport for London said: ‘Our cleaning schedule for Tube trains consists of two different levels of cleaning: pre-service cleans (daily), and a deep clean of the interior and exterior of the train around every 28 days.

‘All floors and surfaces are cleaned daily on every train as part of the pre-service clean. Seats are inspected and cleaned as required during this pre-service clean, with further cleaning as part of the deep clean.’

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