'Smoking crack cocaine on the Tube is unacceptable', Transport Secretary says as shocking images surface
7 April 2025, 08:53 | Updated: 7 April 2025, 12:31
The Transport Secretary has called smoking crack cocaine on the Tube "unacceptable" after a man was photographed taking the drug in front of shocked passengers.
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Heidi Alexander told LBC's Nick Ferrari that the pictures, which surfaced over the weekend, would "concern" Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) bosses.
The person who filmed the video said that they alerted a TfL employee to the man smoking drugs - but were told that "there basically wasn't much they could do".
TfL said that they were working to help "vulnerable people" off the Tube and "into help and support".
Mr Khan later told LBC that he would not speak to TfL despite claims of staff inaction - and also reminded Londoners that they "shouldn't be breaking the law".
The person who posted the video said that they saw "a dirty, [scruffy] man opposite... I initially thought that he was homeless (and that other people were moving away because he smelt bad or something)"
The person then realised that "he was behaving oddly" and trying "to light a small, metal pipe."
Read more: Moment thugs armed with machetes fight on Tube platform in front of horrified commuters
Watch again: Nick Ferrari was joined by Heidi Alexander | 07.04.25
Writing on Reddit, they said: "Thinking he was just drunk, I said 'Dude, no- you can't do that here' before I recognised that he was attempting to light up some crack."
Describing the drug user, the Reddit poster said: "He was as high as a kite, occasionally looking around but not really focusing on anything, with a gormless grin expression on his face.
"He was phlegming and spitting on the floor near-constantly too; every few moments he'd spit yellow liquid onto the floor below him whilst constantly clicking away at his lighter trying to get his crack to smoke, which was largely burnt up mass but still pungent enough to recognise that it was crack."
The passenger said that most other people on the train were "repulsed" by the crack smoker, especially the young women on the carriage. People moved away from the man.
"When I got off at my stop, I saw him scurry off onto another platform and get onto another carriage," they added.
The passenger said that they then reported the drug user, only to be told there was little to be done.
Crime on the Tube has risen sharply in recent years, which Nick described as "a crime wave".
Ms Alexander "I think the overall point to make here is that the transport network in London, and indeed across the country as a whole, is a relatively low crime environment.
"Clearly, any increase in the number of incidents that are happening, whether it's on the Tube, on the buses, on the trams in London, the British Transport Police, alongside the enforcement officers that were on the Tube, will want to tackle that on the Tube."
A TfL spokesperson said: "We want all customers to feel safe when travelling and we understand the alarm this kind of behaviour could cause.
"We are working with the police, specialist teams and other agencies to help move vulnerable people away from our network and into help and support."
