Please do not litter

Newspapers blown about the tube station platform on a gusty day, or caught at the bottom of the escalators, or left on the seats and floor of the tube carriage- familiar sights on the London underground.  I would prefer it if they were not but it seems people are not inclined to dispose of their papers properly- i.e. in bins.  There aren't that many bins in or near tube stations for security reasons so anyone with a paper that they do not want to keep at the end of their journey needs to think about taking it away with them and disposing of it when they do find a bin.  Its not hard but people do not generally like to do it.  Mostly, people will leave read papers on the seats in the tube or at the tube station with the excuse that it would be convenient for someone else to pick it up and read if they don't happen to have any reading material.  Not a bad thought, except newspapers that get left behind are mostly free press papers that people pick up at the door of the tube station so most people pick up their own on the way in anyway.  Plus, if the spirit of generosity was the sole reason for leaving reading material on the tube then it is rather suprising that newspapers that are not free are less commonly left behind, and I am yet to see a book left on the tube when a reader is finished with it.  Maybe that's because the latter two take longer to read but, with the number of these read everyday, I suspect the rate of these being left for altruistic reasons are lower than expected.

At the end of the day, anything that is left on the tube and on station platforms is litter and, therefore, leaving papers on trains and platforms is littering.  TfL staff do have to clean up after people who do that and people who need seats have to remove such items from the seats in order to be able to sit down, often putting them on the floor and making a mess.  So please be considerate and take your litter with you when you leave.