Group of ‘teenagers’ are spotted smoking on a crowded London tube after Euro game – after Boris Johnson said he expects people to continue wearing masks on trains
A shocked passenger has captured the moment a group of maskless people began smoking on a London tube train following England’s defeat at Wembley on Sunday night
The incident took place following the Euro 2020 final on Sunday (11 July), at 11.20pm – as crowds of defeated football fans poured onto the tube at Embankment after watching the game in Trafalgar Square.
In the video, two women and a man, believed to be in their late teens, are seen sharing a lighter as they light up their cigarettes whilst sitting shoulder to shoulder with passengers on the District Line carriage.
Passengers on a London Underground service on Sunday night were filmed smoking
The footage comes after a Downing Street press briefing yesterday, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he ‘expects’ and ‘recommends’ people still wear masks on public transport following the easing of restrictions on July 19.
He said: ‘We will stick to our plan to lift legal restrictions and to lift social distancing, but we expect and recommend that people wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces where you come into contact with those you don’t normally meet, such as on public transport.
‘It is different, sitting at an empty tube station to being in a crowded tube train we would as government expect and recommend people will wear masks.’
The incident happened as fans leaving Trafalgar Square after England’s defeat to Italy on Sunday night boarded a District Line service in Embankment
Theeshan Satkunaseelan, 23, filmed the incident on Sunday night. He said: ‘I didn’t really know what to do because you know you can’t really just snatch a cigarette out of someone’s mouth. So I just thought I’ll get a video, and share it online so other people can see’
Theeshan Satkunaseelan, 23, a marketing officer, captured the scenes on video as other passengers sat by and watched the carriage fill with smoke. ‘Obviously we just lost the game, so we jumped on the tube and everyone was quite sad, as you would be, then they were obviously quite drunk because of the whole day.
‘They just started getting cigarettes out, so I was like “surely you’re not going to smoke on the train”. But they just started lighting up and smoking.
‘I was having a discussion with some randoms about the game while they were smoking and I was a bit far away from them but it was three people smoking and it was getting smoky and the smell was getting quite bad.
‘I didn’t really know what to do because you know you can’t really just snatch a cigarette out of someone’s mouth. So I just thought I’ll get a video, and share it online so other people can see.’
Smoking has been banned on London Underground since the Kings Cross fire in 1987 which claimed the lives of 31 people.
British Transport Police have been contacted for comment.