A Finchley commuter stuck on the Tube during Thursday's snowstorm told of the wartime spirit' that developed in her carriage as passengers realised they were going nowhere fast.

Diane Langleben, of Etchingham Park Road, said normally poker-faced passengers struck up conversation with one another as it became clear that their train would remain at Camden Town for some time.

"There was a real wartime spirit. We were looking on the lighter side nobody was really to blame. People normally sit so po-faced on the tube. Maybe it was just the combination of personalities," she said.

"Nobody could understand the loud speaker announcements but one of the words was definitely bicycle. We thought maybe they were putting bicycles on the line to ferry us home.

"One chap attempted to be one of the characters from the comedy TV show League of Gentlemen and kept people faintly amused.

"An elderly lady who had already had an appalling day in hospital was making the best of it. I was talking with a chap from Colindale who had taken three hours to get as far as Camden Town and saying we could have been in New York by the time we would get home."

Mrs Langleben's train terminated at Archway and she walked the remainder of the distance home, stopping at a friend's house in Highgate for dinner.

January 31, 2003 14:00