Passengers admitted they have fantasised about giving the dirty seats a good scrub

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A London Underground passenger has slammed the dirty seats on London Tube trains, asking if they "ever get cleaned?" Posting photos of the discoloured tube seats on Reddit, the disgusted passenger asked: "Do tube seats ever get cleaned?" before sharing their observation that: "the moquettes have such a massive difference in colour."

Other seat-shaming Londoners were quick to jump on the bandwagon with their own critiques of the tube seats, with one person advising: "Best not to think about it." A second person agreed, telling other passengers: "for your mental health it's better not to think who sat there before you."

One passenger described a scarring video they had once seen, depicting someone smacking a public transport seat with a mallet and watching it "pop with dark scummy dust." They added: "As someone who is a bit weird with public hygiene, I just chose to forget that."

Seeing the comment, a parent said they had witnessed similar scenes unfold recently when their toddler "whacked a tube seat with his hand" and got the same result, adding it was "absolutely disgusting but I also choose to pretend I didn’t see it. Lol."

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One person said they find the London tube seats so repulsive they change clothes as soon as they get home, adding: "I don't understand how some people would actually sit on their beds and pillows with the same jeans that sat on tube seats."

Another person who takes the same approach has actually coined a name for the experience, explaining: "We call it tube butt. If your butt touches one of those seats, it does not touch seats at home in those clothes.

London's dirty public transport seats have had passengers gagging to give them a good scrubbing, as one person demonstrated by sharing an incredibly satisfying YouTube video of a bus seat being cleaned.

"I was just saying to my boyfriend the other day how much I'd love to go at the seats on a tube carriage with a pressure washer," said one passenger, and another agreed: "My dream is to use one of those wet shampoo sofa cleaners. The dirt that comes out of them is crazy."

Transport for London (TfL) told MyLondon earlier this year : “Tube trains and stations are cleaned with hospital-grade cleaning substances that kill viruses and bacteria on contact and provide ongoing protection.

"Independent testing by Imperial College London has been carried out monthly since September 2020, taking swabs of touch points in stations, on buses and of air samples in ticket halls and up to the last verified testing round in December 2021 has found no traces of coronavirus on the public transport network.

"We will continue working hard to ensure that our network remains as clean and reliable as possible, as well as working with academics, to reassure people that travelling on London Underground is safe.”

I'm Anna, a north-east London based News Reporter with a special interest in immigration, social equality, and social housing issues. I've been with MyLondon since January 2021. You can follow my Facebook page here.

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I love London for its rich history, iconic areas, and incredible diversity. When I'm not writing stories I can usually be found exploring new areas of the city.

I read all my emails (and try to respond to most of them!), so please get in touch with me at anna.highfield@reachplc.com.

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