Emma Clarke, the voice of the Underground for eight years has been dropped by TfL after a number of parody ‘Mind the Gap’ announcements were found on her website.
“Here we are crammed again into a sweaty Tube carriage … If you’re female smile at the bloke next to you and make his day. He’s probably not had sex for months.”
Despite TfL’s apparant lack of humour, a spokesperson told the Evening Standard “London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Miss Clarke are experiencing severe delays”
[Reuters] [via UK Mobile Report]
Update: While the Reuters article picked the spoof messages as the reason for dismissal, BBC News are claiming that the reason was “… because she has criticised the Underground system.”
LU said it would not be offering her further work but Ms Clarke said she had been “wildly misquoted”.
“[Ms Clarke] said she was “disappointed and perplexed” that LU had not contacted her but instead had decided to dismiss her via the media.”