Tube graffiti 'like Gotham City' says MP

Neil Hudson wants a deterrent as graffiti on his daily commute was getting "worse and worse"

An MP has compared the graffiti on his London commute to like a scene from a Batman film.

Dr Neil Hudson, Conservative MP for Epping Forest in Essex, said he has noticed the inside of the carriages on the Underground's Central Line getting "worse and worse".

"It feels like you're in the middle of a Batman movie, you're in a train in Gotham City rather than Epping Forest," he said.

Transport for London (TfL) said it was cleaning more than 2,000 tags, which are spray-painted signatures, a week from trains on the Central Line.

Many passengers have been complaining about the condition of the Underground's trains across the capital

Gotham City is a fictional setting for Batman films, often depicted as a dangerous environment where crime runs amok.

Liverpool stood in for Gotham City during location-filming for The Batman (2022)

TfL added it could not afford to take trains out of service at peak times, but Hudson said he wanted more of a focus on deterring the criminals.

He said people felt unsafe when anti-social behaviour was left unchallenged, and that someone needed to step up.

"There's no CCTV, there's no stickers or signs saying: 'if you do this, you will be prosecuted'," he said.

"It's a matter of priorities as well. The mayor of London spent over £6m on rebranding of the London Overground when actually commuters on a day-to-day basis are saying, 'look, we want on-time trains, we want clean trains, we want safe trains, and we want trains without graffiti on them'."

TfL said it was also removing 2,000 tags a week "24/7" on the Bakerloo line of the Underground.

"We have deployed an accelerated cleaning programme in response to the specific increase in graffiti," a spokesperson said.

"We previously withdrew trains from service as soon as they had been vandalised, but with reduced availability due to ageing trains this isn't always possible without impacting services.

"This is why we are working to secure investment in the Tube network, to replace and upgrade trains and ensure we can deliver the world-class transport network that Londoners and visitors deserve and expect."

The exteriors of trains are another favourite canvas for vandals, and TfL says leather dye is making the graffiti hard to remove