After downing ten pints of beer, one man decided it was a good idea to travel down the escalators by sliding down the chute in the middle.
His plan, however, backfired spectacularly.
Freddie Andrews, 22, from Tonbridge, Kent was filmed bouncing off an emergency stop button before he bounded down into the stairs at the bottom in front of a surprised commuter.
The wincing footage shows Andrews, who had just come from the pub, leaping onto the metal chute between the two escalators while his friends laughed hysterically in the background.
“It was faster than I thought it would have been. But as I was sliding I couldn’t stop myself and had no choice.
“I did regret it,” he added.
His friend James Gower filmed the stunt and posted it on Twitter.
“Top night last night, but this has to be the highlight,” he wrote.
His failed prank went viral and has been viewed nearly 13 million times as of Dec. 22.
Andrews told the Standard that he didn’t “feel a thing” until he woke up the following day, and found he couldn’t move.
“My family think I was an idiot. But now it’s happened they think it’s really funny,” he said. “I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else though.”
The tweet has gathered about 7,000 comments in 21 hours.
Actor John Barrowman tweeted: “What an idiot but too funny.”
“The gentleman asked me if I was OK and I said yes and went on my way,” he said.
Transport for London has since warned against any copycat pranksters.
He also described Andrews as an “idiot.”
The spokesman added, “We have frequent PA announcements reminding customers to be careful when using escalators, and we also run safety campaigns throughout the year to encourage customers to take care whilst traveling on our network.”
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