The majority of Londoners were infuriated by each item on a list of 20 intolerable Tube behaviours we put to them, but which was the worst?
If there is one common experience the vast majority of Londoners have, it is riding the London Underground. Use of the Tube is governed by a strict set of rules that don't seem to exist anywhere else, such as standing on the right on escalators. Breaking these rules can frequently leave a carriage full of people in silent rage.
But of all the annoying things people can do on the Underground, which is the one Londoners hate above all else?
Now the people of London have spoken, and they have told YouGov Omnibus that the single most annoying Underground behaviour is when people try to get on to a carriage without first giving passengers a chance to get off. Nine in ten Londoners (90%) think that this was annoying, with 61% believe it was “very” annoying.
Shenanigans in the area surrounding carriage doors also account for the second and third biggest irritants. Not getting out of the way of people trying to get off the train annoyed a similar number of Londoners (90%), although the feelings of rage were less severe with closer to half (52%) saying they find it "very" annoying, while other people trying to push ahead while getting on the train annoys 88% overall (of which 55% find it "very" annoying).
Women and older people were more likely to find the behaviour of other travellers annoying
Women were more likely to find most of the behaviours annoying than men. In particular they are more likely to get irritated by people staring at them (which 70% of women found “very” or “quite” annoying compared to 48% of men), manspreading (79% vs 61%) and leaning on the poles in carriages preventing people from being able to hold on to them (70% vs 53%).
Likewise, it is easier to raise older Londoners' ire on the Underground. In particular, older Londoners were more likely than young people to get annoyed by loud music (86% of 65+ year olds found this "very" or "quite" annoying, compared to 48% of 18-24 year olds), not taking off backpacks (75% vs 49%) and drunkenness (86% vs 62%).
By contrast, there were only a couple of things that older people get less annoyed about than younger people. Both are to do with speedy passage through the Underground system - standing on the left on the escalators (which 69% of 18-24 year olds found "very" or "quite" annoying compared to 56% of 65+ year olds) and people taking their time at the ticket barriers (56% vs 44%).
Photo: Getty images
