Drunk man slides down centre of escalator on London Underground

Everybody knows the unspoken rules of the Underground - stick to the left hand side on the stairs and don't talk to anyone. However one man obviously hasn't read the Tube-travelling rule book - and decided to slide the entire way down the centre of the escalator.

Late-night reveller, Freddie Andrews, 22, from Tonbridge, was caught sliding down the panels between the escalators at Moorgate station while on the way home from watching the PDC World Championships at Alexandra Palace.

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But, unfortunately, he hadn't really thought it through, as when he came across a stop button placed on the panel it hit him where it really hurt.

He slid around 40ft before hitting a metal sign and being thrown onto the opposite escalator, landing at the feet of a surprised commuter.

His friend James Gower shared video of the incident on Twitter.

One onlooker told the Metro that she spotted the group coming in, saying: "They all walk to the escalator all drunken and rowdy and they begin to go down, then this guy, who was by far the drunkest of the lot, got onto the middle part and sat like he was going to go down a slide.

"He started liked that but the first "obstacle" that isn't captured on camera kinda jolted and threw him out of position, then he hit the 2nd and then built up speed and went flying!

"All his mates were in tears laughing. One (in the yellow) collapsed onto the escalator stairs laughing his ass off and the others were all crying with laughter. Eventually the guy who he almost collided with at the end of the video was like "are you gonna help your mate??" And then two went up to go help him. He was slowly moving but didn't get up at all. The others remained at the bottom laughing."

She added that she admittedly chuckled at the incident, too.

Speaking to the Standard, Mr Andrews admitted that he did regret his behaviour, explaining: "I was that drunk - I'd had about 10 pints - the escalator was free and I thought, 'why not?'

"It was faster than I thought it would have been. But as I was sliding I couldn't stop myself and had no choice.

"I did regret it."

He said that it didn't hurt at the time but that he could "barely walk" the next day.

London Underground warned against the behaviour and said: "Safety is our top priority and pranks like this are dangerous for not only those involved but also to other customers."