At the start of the war, Herbert Morrison, the Minister for Home Security, was against using the Tube stations as public shelters. The 'official' reason he gave was that he was afraid children might fall on the tracks and get killed. There were other reasons. The Underground was not designed to provide a home for large numbers of people. Diseases spread quickly when people crowd together. Many stations did not have toilets. People are always on the move in a Tube station and so toilets were not provided.

Mr Morrison was also afraid that once people felt safe below they would stay there all day as well as all night. This could lead to low morale. People might refuse to venture out during the day, workers would stop going to work and apathy would set in.

Londoners had different ideas. They were convinced that Mr Morrison's mind needed to be changed. On the evening of 8th September 1940, large crowds gathered outside Liverpool Street Underground station, the East End Londoners' gateway to the Underground system. The East Enders were determined that they were going to shelter that night in the safety of the Tube. At first the authorities refused to let them in but the crowds would not leave. Eventually the gates were opened and the people flowed in. Phil Piratin, a Stepney councillor describes another such demonstration to force the government to change its mind and open the Tube for people to shelter:

"Various implements such as crowbars happened to be available, and while the police stood on duty guarding the gates, they were quickly swept aside by the crowds, the crowbars were brought into action, and the people went down. That night tens of thousands sprawled on the Tube platforms. The next day Mr. Herbert Morrison, solemn as an owl, rose to make his world-shattering announcement; the government had reconsidered its opinion in the matter of the Tubes being used as shelters."

The government 'got on' with the job of making the Tube a better place to shelter. On September 21st 1940, the Aldwych branch of the Piccadilly line was closed from, the tracks were covered in concrete and sleeping places and toilets provided for the shelterers. Many tube tunnels were reinforced to help them stand up to bomb blasts. Floodgates were fitted to prevent the Thames flowing into damaged tunnels. Special sensors were placed in the Thames that would tell if there were any mines or bombs in the river. A special operations room at Leicester Square Tube station could then close the floodgates and limit the damage.

Tube disasters during the Second World War

Unfortunately, even the Underground could not protect Londoners from all the bombs.

Marble Arch - September 17th 1940
Tube suffered a direct hit. The walls were covered in white tiles that were turned into deadly flying weapons when the bomb blast forced them from the walls at terrifying speeds. Twenty people were killed in the tragedy.

Balham - 14th October 1940
Bomb exploded above the station. The blast went through the road and into the tunnel causing massive destruction, blowing up water mains and sewage pipes and causing flooding in the tunnel. Sixty-eight people lost their lives and many more were injured.

Bank - 11th January 1941
A direct hit on Bank caused the road above the station to collapse on to the shelterers below. The blast wrecked the escalators and blew out the windows of two trains standing in the station. People were injured by collapsing ceiling and by the deadly flying glass from the trains. Fifty six people were killed and sixty-nine injured. The bomb left a crater, 120ft long and 100ft wide.

Bethnal Green - March 8th 1943
Fifteen hundred people were on their way down the stairs into the Bethnal Green tube shelter. Someone at the front stumbled but the crowd pushed on, falling one on top of each other. A hundred and seventy three people were killed in the crush. The government insisted that news of the disaster mentioned neither the place nor the number involved.