Tube stations keep getting shut down because of burnt toast

If you’re not great at cooking, setting shit on fire is surprisingly easy to do. When I was at uni, for example, I left my cheese on toast in the oven for an hour while I was on the phone to my mum, ended up setting half of my kitchen on fire and weirdly alienated all of my flatmates, somehow. 

Was it stupid? Yes. But: was I responsible for the operation of a transportation network in one of the world’s biggest urban centres? No.

But, luckily for those of us feeling bad about our lack of culinary talents, it turns out that even people who are responsible for the operation of a transportation network in one of the world’s biggest urban centres are susceptible to the ol’ ‘inability to manage everyday tasks in a reliable fashion’.

That’s according to figures released by London’s City Hall, anyway. They reveal that both Victoria and Oxford Circus – two of London’s busiest Tube stations – were separately forced to shut down after staff burnt their toast in the staff room. Wood Lane, a station on the Hammersmith & City line, was also closed because of burnt toast.

Other reasons for closure included an e-cigarette setting off an alarm and a suspicious device that actually turned out to be a home-brewing kit.

Back in 2010, “tens of thousands of commuters” were delayed when burnt toast set off alarms twice at King’s Cross.

So next time you have a kitchen disaster, rest easy in the knowledge that you’re only ruining your own day and not the day of thousands and thousands of angry, grumpy commuters.