ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A Watford-based cleaner has shared evidence of the dirt he collected from the seats of a London underground train in a YouTube video.

And the clip has gone viral, attracting more than 10 million views across multiple platforms.

Cleaner Steven James, 55, started cleaning high-traffic areas and posting videos of his actions on his Instagram account in 2020. Among his most recent posts is a clip of himself and his team cleaning the seats of a moving Northern Line tube.

James then highlighted the amount of dirt that had been removed by displaying the buckets of dirty water collected.

"I have quite a good following on Instagram and we do this every day," he said. "But that dirt was excessive - it's definitely up there with the worst we have ever seen."

James, who runs his own carpet-cleaning business, has also posted videos of his team steam-cleaning the seats of buses, cinemas, theatres and doctors' surgeries.

The video, which was shared on news platforms including the BBC, Daily Mail and the Metro, has now been taken down after discussions with TFL.

According to a TFL spokesperson the actions taken by the cleaning team in the video were potentially dangerous both to the cleaners and to other passengers.
"All floors and surfaces are cleaned daily on every train as part of a pre-service clean," said the spokesperson.

"Seats are inspected and cleaned as required and a deep clean of the interior and exterior of the train takes place around every 28 days."