Outdoor Footwear Banned in New Public Transport Rule by British Transport Police

British Transport Police (BTP) is today announcing new measures which will see the mandatory removal of outdoor footwear on trains, trams and tubes.

The groundbreaking step is being introduced following a recent surge in reports to our text 61016 service of people putting their feet on seats.

In one particularly shocking case, a man was left with a £150 dry-cleaning bill after sitting in a muddied seat and in another a woman was forced to look at a pair of Crocs for the duration of the London St Pancras to Sheffield service.

Passengers will now be expected to leave their outdoor footwear on shoe racks which will be readily available by the train doors and in the vestibule of the train, to be collected when they finish their journey.

We’re mindful that there’s only one thing worse than shoes on seats, and that is bare feet on seats, so passengers who choose to travel without socks will be provided with plastic bags to preserve their modesty. This comes as rail staff in Wales reported someone using the seat in front of them to conduct a pedicure in January.

The measures come into force on 1 May and officers will have the power to seize and destroy any outdoor footwear worn in the carriage and/or direct offenders to leave the service at the next station.

PC Sharon Soeless said:“We know that feet on seats can be irritating, unsightly and unhygienic to many passengers – we hear you and we’ve listened. As our colleagues in Scotland would say, we are now officially a “Shoes Aff Gaff”.”