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FOI request detail

Paranormal activity at stations

Request ID: FOI-3164-2425
Date published: 22 January 2025

You asked

I would like to know the following information: • A copy of any reports of paranormal activity at Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth Line and Tram locations made to TfL since January 1, 2022. Please include the month and year of the report and the location (nearest station if possible). • A copy of any internal staff logbooks/documents for ghost sightings at the Aldgate East station

We answered

Our Ref:        FOI-3164-2425

 

Thank you for your request received on 2 January 2025 asking for information about paranormal activity at stations.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

 

           A copy of any reports of paranormal activity at Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth Line and Tram locations made to TfL since January 1, 2022. Please include the month and year of the report and the location (nearest station if possible)

 

We have carried out a keyword search of all London Underground incident reports over the requested timeframe using the following words: ghost, paranormal, spirit, apparition, ghoul, phantom, poltergeist, banshee. The search returned 156 results, but only one of them related to paranormal activity. This related to a distressed 15 year-old-boy at King’s Cross on the Metropolitan line in December 2023, who also mentioned that he had seen ghosts. The remainder of results were records talking about being in “good spirits” (typically a customer or train driver after an incident) or spirit as in alcohol (customers who were intoxicated/carrying a bottle of spirit).

 

We have also done a similar search of our Customer Contact Centre database. We have identified on average 30 results per month for the first few months of the requested timeframe, so we estimate there will be over 1000 cases that would need to be reviewed to determine if they were relevant to your request. From previous similar searches it is likely that the majority of these will relate to reports of phantom/ghost Oyster card charges. 

         

To review all of the cases in our Customer Contact Centre database would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described. 

 

We do not have any reports of paranormal activity on our Trams, Elizabeth line, DLR, or London Overground services.

 

           A copy of any internal staff logbooks/documents for ghost sightings at the Aldgate East station

 

We do not hold this information. 

 

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.

 

Yours sincerely 

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

foi@tfl.gov.uk

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