London- Safety..
 

Has anyone had any safety issue is London recently? Are the subways still safe and clean? I'll be traveling alone and am concerned.

Clean? Well that depends on your point of view. Safe in what terms? If you're talking about some sort of physical abuse or being robbed, that seems a very minimal possibility. Or at least as minimal as anywhere else in any other city of the world.

I am sorry but I just don't understand questions like this one or your particular "concerns". This is London you are asking about and not Johannesburg!

Frankly, I'm not sure it is any more relevant for Jo-burg and I won't venture into the rationale for why that particular city was picked as an "example."

I was recently in London and found the Tube stations to be very clean considering the number of people who use the system..and they were certainly cleaner, particularly in the track area, than the ones in New York, for example. No looking down and seeing everyone's discards and trash. Very well-lit, too, and none of those "Wait here during 'off hours'" "warnings" seen in at least one other city I could name.

Safe? In terms of what? Pickpockets? Drunks? Violence? Not being filled with folks that, uh, look exactly the same as you do?

And the connection I cannot make is the one between "clean" and "traveling alone."

If you are at all concerned then simply take a taxi or walk.

But again, I'm pleased to learn that you already know what to wear.

London is safe. however being on my own, i never save on taxis at night, home or on travel.

You may need a taxi at night at home: in London you can take the tube.

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I was in London the first week of December on business. I was alone for the most part. I felt quite safe in London but, like skaf, used taxis at night. The tube is a marvel for covering lots of territory efficiently and quickly. And it seems safe and clean when you take into account that it is used by hundreds of thousands daily. London is, in my experience, a very easy city to visit on your own.

Within the central area, lone tube or bus travellers (or walkers on well-lit streets) have a slight chance of (usually non-violent)theft, and a minuscule chance of getting dragged into the late-night antics of a drunk.

Their chances of assault or worse are much higher using unlicensed cabs. And black - licensed - cabs can't always be found, especially late at night when it's raining.

If you're concerned about safety - and in most of London, you really can almost always take it for granted as long as you keep your brain switched on - public transport can be more reliable than trying to hail a black cab.

Just use the big city practicality you'd use in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Berlin or ... Johannesburg. II too am puzzled as to why PBT singled out J'burg)