Tube driver delivers a nice line in comedy

A DRIVER on the Jubilee line has taken a novel approach to cheering up his passengers - and he'll have his work cut out following yesterday's strike - by using the train's intercom system as an outlet for his comedy routines.

Entertaining a bigger (albeit captive) audience than Eddie Izzard, Harry Hill or Jack Dee, the driver's identity remains a mystery to a growing number of fans across the capital.

Thousands of commuters know him simply as Gary, the Jubilee line joker.

Driving the route between Stanmore and Stratford can get a bit monotonous for lonely drivers starved of conversation, so Gary decided to make full use of the intercom.

He tells passengers: "I've turned off the intercom announcer because she reminded me of my ex-wife. I call her Sonya because she gets-onya nerves."

The Evening Standard went to Kilburn Tube station to investigate the phenomenon and found Gary was becoming part of Underground folklore.

Passenger Sylvia Ramirez from Willesden Green said: "You never know when you're going to get on his train - morning or evening - but when you do he has everyone laughing by the time you get off.

She added: "One morning the train stopped at Finchley Road and he said, 'Look at those miserable people on that train opposite - they are a photocopy of you.' He cheers everyone up, sometimes it's a shame to leave his train."

One commuter said: "You might be bored or depressed on a Monday morning but he really puts a smile on people's faces with his jokes," while another added: "He doesn't just do the same jokes over and over again, he changes them each time."

Apparently, Gary adapts his Saturday night show to accommodate the more ribald humour of drunken revellers, including cracks about vomiting and urinating on Tubes: "For those of you who don't know the difference between a train and a urinal - the train is 150ft long, weighs 100 tons and hurtles along at 120mph.

"A urinal is white, made of porcelain and sits on the wall. I'll make a deal with you: you don't urinate on my Tube and I won't drive my train through your bathroom."

Guards at Kilburn admitted that they had not heard about the Gary legend but said that it sounded like a good way to cheer people up.

Perhaps the trend will catch on with other drivers, and London Underground might have to consider renaming the Jubilee line - to the punch line.

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