Transport for London (TfL) has announced that it has raised £450,000 to revamp two tube stations, which customers say has caused confusion.
Last year, Bond Street was temporarily renamed “Burberry Street.” This happened during London Fashion Week, as the luxury brand has its headquarters in London.
As a result, TfL received 46 complaints from customers claiming they were confused or disliked by the changed signage. Ten complaints were about accessibility and one person claimed to have been injured by the changes.
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In December, the head of TfL admitted that this had caused confusion among passengers, telling members of the London Assembly that he expected train drivers to regularly remind them that they would still arrive at Bond Street.
But, he added, this had been “not implemented consistently”. Olivia Utley said at the time on X: “I can’t get over how stupid it is that TfL renamed Bond Street ‘Burberry Street’ just because of an advertising partnership.”
“A poor elderly man just asked me in a panic if he had missed Bond St (three stops past Bond St). This must happen hundreds of times a day.”
Old Street was renamed “Fold Street”
Between July 24 and 28 this year, Old Street was renamed “Fold Street”. This was part of a deal with Samsung to promote one of its phones.
It was complete with a model of a folded up London bus, a phone box, a bench and a lamppost. James Shanley said on X: “TfL needs to stop this. If you don’t know that Fold Street is Old Street, you’re a tourist, bad at geography, unfamiliar with tube travel etc. This is a perfect example of a middle finger to the passenger experience.”
TfL said it received £200,000 from renaming Bond Street to Burberry Street. The authority said it received £250,000 plus VAT for the development of Old Street.
Mr Lord said in December: “We are often approached by a number of brands and organisations who would like to work with us. TfL and the Tube in particular are iconic brands that they like to be associated with (…) The Burberry sponsorship was, I think, the longest campaign we have ever done. As far as I remember, it lasted seven days.”
“A number of operational remedies were introduced but were not consistently implemented. This caused confusion for some customers on the network. We have learned from this, conducted a review and will include them in any other equivalent program should the right commercial opportunity arise in the future. But we don’t just agree to everything.”
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