Evening Standard/London
London commuters have vented their anger at fellow passengers’ most annoying habits with poor body hygiene and spreading germs top of their list of bugbears.
The No1 commuting “hate” was having to stand or sit next to a smelly person on the Tube, bus or train, according to a YouGov poll, followed closely by people who cough and sneeze but fail to cover their mouth.
Women in particular are left fuming by germ spreaders.
Next came people who talk loudly on their mobile phones, ahead of passengers who put their feet on the seats, eat smelly food or don’t make space in the carriage or on the bus during rush hour.
“By some margin it’s smelliness and spreading germs that annoy people the most,” said Anthony Wells, from pollsters YouGov.
“This survey might make people be a bit more considerate towards their fellow passengers.”
The poll asked travellers to pick two or three out of ten types of behaviour by other passengers on public transport which annoyed them most.A total of 40% said passengers with poor personal hygiene infuriated them.
While 39% named germ spreaders - who got under the skin of 48% of women, compared to 30% of men.
Space-hoggers were more likely to irritate younger people than older travellers, according to the poll.
A quarter of those aged 18 to 24 complained about their fellow commuters taking up too much room when seated, compared to around one in eight who had already reached their 40th birthday.
Last year Game of Thrones actor Richard Madden found himself under fire for space hogging on the Bakerloo line.
The 28-year-old, who played Robb Stark in the HBO drama and is the boyfriend of Dr Who star Jenna-Louise Coleman, was snapped sprawled in a seat, with his left leg right up against the passenger beside him.
The image went viral after being uploaded to the Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train website, with critics accusing him of committing the “cardinal sin of being a leg spreader”.
The older people get, the more annoyed they are about people talking loudly on mobile phones.
Overall, 29% of Londoners named this trait of fellow passengers as among their bugbears.
This included more than four out of ten people 60 and over, compared to 32% in the 40 to 59 age group, 24% among 25 to 39-year-olds, and 16% for those 18 to 24.
Hearing loud music through another passenger’s earphones was among the middle-ranking moans, with younger people raising this issue less - possibly because they might have committed such offending-to-some behaviour.
Just 15% put the use of bad language in their list and nine% the wearing of backpacks, which can bash into fellow passengers.
Ukip supporters might have less whinges about travellers on public transport, as 12% of them say they don’t use it, compared to six% of people intending to vote Tory, five% Labour and four% Liberal Democrat.