Following your request, London Underground (LU) reviewed the way the ticket gates are set during the morning peak to see whether any changes could be made to improve passenger flows within the ticket hall. As well as analysing usage figures for the gates, a trial was conducted to assess the impact of reversing the direction of one of the 'way out' gates during the busiest period of the morning peak to provide an additional entry point.

However, this quickly created congestion, with customers arriving from the High Road side of the station queuing for this one gate instead of walking round to the remaining 'way in' gates by the ticket office. This led to the remaining 'way out' gates quickly becoming blocked by customers waiting to enter the station, whilst there were three underused 'way in' gates by the ticket office.

The trial also highlighted that there always needs to be an adequate number of 'way out' gates to cope with sudden surges of passengers wishing to leave the station, as each train arrives and passengers disembark at once.

As a result of this trial, LU believes the current arrangements offer the most practical solution and so there are no plans to alter the direction of the gates or passenger flows within the station.

LU would be happy to meet with you at the station to explain the position in more detail if that would be helpful. *