Hundreds take the shortest tube trip each week

Hundreds of people spend £2.40 making the 45-second Tube journey between two central London stations every week, it is reported.

Covent Garden and Leicester Square are the closest stations on the London Underground, with their platforms on the Piccadilly Line less than 300 yards apart.

Figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph under Freedom of Information laws say an average of 531 people travel from Covent Garden to Leicester Square each week, with 331 travelling the other way.

The data only covers those using Oyster cards or other contactless payment, the paper added.

This would mean that – at £2.40 for a single fare – Transport for London bring in more than £2,000 a week for those opting to take the Tube for the journey which takes four minutes by foot.