How many TFL staff does it take to change a light bulb…

None, it’s not their job clearly.

So Highbury and Islington station has been closed for two days due to a “lighting problem”. I find this exceptionally fascinating. Describing it as a “problem” would indicate that it is an unexpected fault leading to the lighting issues as opposed to a foreseen issue being dealt with say re-wiring. So I’m left guessing what the problem might be (I can confirm there is indeed a “problem” somewhere as the platform is pitch black), these are my speculations:

1. They put up all the light bulbs at the same time and now they have all gone out and it clearly takes quite a few TFL staff to get some new ones up.

2. There is a bigger general problem with the lighting such as the wiring and they need to re wire the whole place.

3. They are trying to cover something up and turning the lights out provides the cover they need. Now this obviously begs the question what could they possibly be covering up.

Now I’m convinced it is actually option one or possibly two. As stupid as it might seem I think they actually are struggling to change the light bulbs. Here’s why – if they were trying to cover something up surely they would come up with some better option that would get the people’s sympathy rather than using an excuse so dumb it will just piss people off even more. An excuse such as station closure due to rat infestation isn’t going to piss that many people off, most people will be quite glad they don’t stop at a rat infested station. It is more likely it’s something completely stupid and a problem easily foreseeable by someone with half a brain cell.

I wonder if they run the announcements through the PR and Legal teams before using them..