Moorgate Escalators Platforms 9 and 10

[wyvfe1]

On Friday at 21:04 there where about 10 to 15 people on the up escalator from the northern line up to the FCC platforms 9 and 10 when suddenly the escalator started to go downwards. (...so someone pressed the stop button)

anyone know why/what happened.

 

[stut]

I suspect the answer involves alcohol.

 

[Jonny]

I suspect the answer involves alcohol.

For a sudden, random stop perhaps but not for a change of direction?

 

[causton]

This is all a very wild guess, but perhaps there is a mechanism to move the escalator upwards (or downwards) and another one to hold the stairs in place. Perhaps the one to move the escalator stopped (failure, stop button pressed, etc.) but the stairs were sliding down due to the weight of the people on them? Don't even know if that is possible, disregard if I'm missing something stupid.

How long did it travel downwards for? Did it stop eventually? What did the people do?

 

[Tubeman]

From my knowledge of escalators this is only possible if a member of staff had actively inserted their key at either the top or the bottom landing and reversed the direction, i.e. it wouldn't have just happened spontaneously nor could a customer have done it.

...and if procedure were properly followed, this certainly wouldn't have happened with people riding on it at the time... a member of staff should approach from the bottom landing (as it's going up), unlock and pop out barriers, then ride the escalator to the top, check it's unoccupied, then insert a key and stop, insert into a different barrel and change direction, insert back into the original barrel and re-start, then ride back down to the bottom landing and stow the barriers back away.

I'd suggest letting LU customer service centre know just in case there is a fault local management should be aware of...