Request ID: FOI-2215-2122 Date published: 24 January 2022
You asked
I would like to make the following freedom of information request about the London Transport Museum:
Please state if the London Transport Museum or any of its exhibits contain asbestos and so please list where it is located.
Please also set out the policies of the London Transport Museum to ensure the removal of asbestos, or to protect staff, volunteers and visitors from any locations where asbestos exists and where its removal is not possible.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-2215-2122/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 29 December 2021 asking for information about the London Transport Museum.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
Please state if the London Transport Museum or any of its exhibits contain asbestos and so please list where it is located.
An asbestos survey of the London Transport Museum building in Covent Garden, excluding exhibits, was completed in May 2021. No significant asbestos was found. It is presumed to exist in rope glazing around the site in areas not accessible to staff or members of the public.
The following list of exhibits at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden are known or believed to contain asbestos. Where asbestos still exists, it has been deemed to be inaccessible to the public (either as it is contained internally within a vehicle or has been sealed into the interior or behind a showcase):
1997/3369 Gas mask; London Transport Fire Tender, 1940 Object is displayed in a sealed case within the London’s transport at war gallery, ground floor, London Transport Museum.
2018/480 Road vehicle; Austin Low Loader taxi, registration number CXX 598, 1936 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
2007/8701 Road vehicle; Carbodies FX4S Plus taxi, registration E272 MYL, 1988 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1991/23 Road vehicle; Routemaster double deck motor bus bonnet No RM1737, 1963 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1991/22 Road vehicle; AEC RT-type double deck motor bus bonnet No RT4712, 1954 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1991/18 Railway vehicle; City & South London Railway locomotive no 13, 1890 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/544 Cab section of 1938 tube stock driving motor car Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/542 Railway vehicle; LER Q23-stock driving motor car No. 4248, 1923 Vehicle displayed on first floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/541 Railway vehicle; 1938-tube stock driving motor car No. 11182, 1938 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/539 Railway vehicle; Metropolitan Railway "Bogie Stock" coach No 400, 1900 Vehicle displayed on first floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/537 Railway vehicle; Metropolitan Railway locomotive No. 5 'John Hampden', 1922 Vehicle displayed on first floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/535 Railway vehicle; Metropolitan Railway A class steam locomotive No. 23, 1866 Vehicle displayed on first floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/531 Tramway vehicle; West Ham Corporation Tramways tram No 102, 1910 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
1981/528 Road vehicle; K2-class trolleybus No 1253 registration mark EXV253, 1939 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
2018/1115 Road vehicle; Leyland X2 double deck bus registration LN7270, 1908 Vehicle displayed on ground floor, London Transport Museum.
Please also set out the policies of the London Transport Museum to ensure the removal of asbestos, or to protect staff, volunteers and visitors from any locations where asbestos exists and where its removal is not possible.
London Transport Museum (LTM) follows Transport for London (TfL) policies regarding the management of asbestos and LTM is supported by the TfL Hazardous Materials Team. Processes and procedures are in place to ensure that the management of asbestos is carried out in compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. LTM follows TfL policy to continue to safely manage ACMs in-situ, through continued management surveys, re-inspections, risk assessments and pre-work Refurbishment & Demolition (R&D) surveys.
In addition to LTM’s general policies on the management of asbestos, we continually and regularly document all collection items within our care, undertaking to arrange conservation treatments (including on hazardous materials) with professional contractors when appropriate.
Any treatment conducted considers the expert advice of professional contractors and factors in aspects including the position of the asbestos/hazard within the object/vehicle, the impact of removal on the object/vehicle (and the risks associated with removal) and the level of safety of leaving the asbestos/hazard in situ (with appropriate stabilising and labelling).
Where assessments are inconclusive or there is any element of doubt (e.g. samples can show results in the area of component tested, but not necessarily all areas of components), we assume the presence of asbestos, in line with professional guidance.
In preparation for the Museum’s extensive redevelopment in 2007, vehicles and objects for display were assessed in 2005. Since then, specific assessments have been carried out on particular items.
Any objects/vehicles selected for future display at the Museum are assessed for hazards, with expert advice sought and treatment undertaken as appropriate. For example, a Second World War gas mask (1997/3369) containing asbestos within its filtration cartridge, was assessed, re-sealed and decontaminated by external contractors in 2020 prior to re-display within a sealed showcase in the redeveloped London’s transport at war gallery on the ground floor.
If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
