Farewell to highway robbery

Long time readers of The Swiss Cottage may recall last year’s post about the 100% profit vending machines located at Baker Street tube station. In recent weeks, all of the vending machines at Baker Street suddenly vanished. A mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself. While the chocolate vending machine never won my heart, I am mourning the machine on Platform 6 that’s faithfully dispensed icy cold bottles of Coke Zeros for more than a year.

After extensive research I finally uncovered the story behind their removal. London Underground is simply trying to increase the available platform area as passenger numbers continue to grow. Some station platforms are barely two metres wide so every extra inch makes a real difference. I also learnt that the vending machines were designed with sloping roofs for security reasons and not for aesthetics as I’d previously imagined. The slope prevents people leaving items on top of the machine.

Security considerations are behind other design features I've noticed on the Underground. For example, platform benches are bolted directly to the wall so that it's easier to check underneath for foreign devices. Likewise, litter bins are nowhere to be found. They were removed from the Underground in the 1980s in response to IRA bombing campaigns, only to return in the 1990s. They were subsequently removed again as new security concerns arose at the end of the Millennium.