Emergency lifts at London Underground, Overground, and DLR stations
Request ID: FOI-3024-2223 Date published: 13 March 2023
You asked
The full original request (not by myself) and response is available at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/emergency_lifts_at_london_underg
but, for your convenience, the original request was:
Could you please provide me with the information which Underground, Overground and DLR stations have emergency lifts which can be used by disabled customers if a public lift is out of service? Please specify the station, which platform they serve and if they provide street level access. Please include hidden lifts which are only available with the help of staff.
The response stated that there were no emergency lifts on the DLR or London Overground managed stations, but then said:
There are six London Underground stations which have lifts located in staff-only areas (requiring assistance to operate) which would be available in emergency situations to disabled customers if a customer lift is out of service. They are:
Station Platform/level served Access
King’s Cross St Pancras Lift 9 – Northern line Ticket hall and street Westminster Lift 1 – All levels Street Canary Wharf Lift 3 – All levels Street Waterloo Lift 3 – Jubilee Line Street North Greenwich Lift 3 – Jubilee Line Street Green Park Lift 3 – Interchange level Street
As I asked, please can you update your response to this. In answering, please provide more detail where your colleague wrote "all levels", giving a list of the places that the lift stops.
Please also clarify whether your response includes Elizabeth Line facilities and, if not, who the correct body to contact is.
I hope this clarifies matters sufficiently.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-3024-2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 14th February 2023 asking for information about emergency lifts across various TfL services.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Could you please provide me with the information which Underground, Overground and DLR stations have emergency lifts which can be used by disabled customers if a public lift is out of service? Please specify the station, which platform they serve and if they provide street level access. Please include hidden lifts which are only available with the help of staff.
The response stated that there were no emergency lifts on the DLR or London Overground managed stations, but then said:
There are six London Underground stations which have lifts located in staff-only areas (requiring assistance to operate) which would be available in emergency situations to disabled customers if a customer lift is out of service. They are:
Station Platform/level served Access King’s Cross St Pancras Lift 9 – Northern line Ticket hall and street Westminster Lift 1 – All levels Street Canary Wharf Lift 3 – All levels Street Waterloo Lift 3 – Jubilee Line Street North Greenwich Lift 3 – Jubilee Line Street Green Park Lift 3 – Interchange level Street
As I asked, please can you update your response to this. In answering, please provide more detail where your colleague wrote "all levels", giving a list of the places that the lift stops.
Please also clarify whether your response includes Elizabeth Line facilities and, if not, who the correct body to contact is.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
Note that the step-free access lifts provided at TfL rail stations (London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and Elizabeth Line) are available for the use of all of our customers and fulfil the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act in all respects. No separate lifts are provided solely for persons of restricted mobility, and the only emergency lifts provided at a limited number of locations are for sole use of the emergency services. All of our lifts have a high level of availability and maintenance response to faults is managed to ensure that none are out of service for extended periods. Should a lift be out of service there are arrangements in place to communicate this to potential users so that alternative routes can be planned.
In terms of the London Underground, note the following:
Green Park: The Fireman’s lift at Green Park does give access to all platforms and goes from the interchange subway up to street level. This lift has not been risk assessed for it to be used by the public if the main lifts fail. Due to the depth of the shaft we would not normally use it for customers because if it breaks down the London Fire Brigade would not be able to rescue those trapped inside, and they would need to wait for the engineers to attend if we could not manually lower it.
Waterloo: Waterloo underground does not have back of house Lift as described in the request
Tottenham Court Road:There are twelve lifts in total and three of these are ‘back of house’. The three back of house lifts are designated to support the evacuation of disabled customers only in an emergency evacuation scenario of the station. Two of the lifts are located in the ‘Elizabeth Line’ part of the station and can evacuate disabled customers from the platform level to the street level. The last back of house lift is in the ‘LU’ part of the station and is not accessible from platform level of the Northern or Central Lines as it can only be reached from the lower concourse area of the station, which is above the platform levels. The exit area of this lift is at a back alleyway behind the station. It may also be worth noting that the three lifts can only be utilised with a member of staff in them and there is no facility to tap-out oyster / contactless cards on the exit at street level.
Westminster: At Westminster there is a fireman’s lift that stops at the street level Cannon Row, platform 2 E/B District, Platform 3 E/B Jubilee and platform 4 W/B Jubilee.
Southwark: At Southwark we also have a fireman’s lift which starts at street level (Joan Street) and will take the customer to the ticket hall and both the E/B and W/B Jubilee platforms. This is not regularly used as it does not allow the customer to start or complete their journey.
Bond Street: There are no back of house lifts in the old part of Bond St which serves the Central and Jubilee Lines. However, at both the entrances which serve the Elizabeth Line there are ‘firefighter’ back of house lifts which could be used to evacuate in an emergency. Both these lifts, in the Davies St and Hanover Square entrances operate between platform and street level.
Victoria: Victoria Underground Station does not currently have access to the use of a back of house lift for staff or public use.
Kings Cross: At Kings Cross there is one back of house lift. This lift is from back of house street level to the Northern line and is designated as the fireman’s lift as it is for use by the emergency services only. This is an old traction lift whereby if the brake fails (which it does on a regular basis) we have to call an engineer to release which could take up to an hour or longer and therefore is not suitable for customers.
Except for any references above, there are no further lifts at Elizabeth Line, London Overground or DLR stations other than those open to the public.
If this is not the information you are looking for please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
