Activist group Adfree Cities is calling for the giant billboards at Euston Station to be permanently removed, following complaints of dangerous overcrowding at the station.
It comes as Network Rail – which owns Euston’s giant advertising screens – announced it was turning off the digital billboards amid heightened criticism for the station’s revised layout which led to dangerous overcrowding after the arrival and departure boards were turned into massive ad hoardings.
Passengers congregating around much smaller screens with limited information in order to check their train details caused dangerous levels of overcrowding.
The transport secretary Louise Haigh ordered the billboards to be switched off due to concerns around passenger safety at the station. The billboards were then shutdown as Euston was ordered to create a five-point plan to improve passenger conditions.
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Writing on LinkedIn, Adfree Cities campaigner James Ward said: “The screens replaced departure info boards back in January, prompting criticism at the time. Since then, the lack of adequate passenger info has led to serious incidents of overcrowding and risk of crushing as passengers rush to catch trains.”
“Network rail is absolutely right to switch them off. But why not go further and remove them altogether, returning to the previous info boards?”
Now, AdFree Cities is not only calling for the Euston billboards to remain permanently switched off but pushing for a review of billboards in stations elsewhere.
The organisation has regularly highlighted the environmental and health impacts of billboards, partaking in activism around high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) adverts as well as pushing for the ban of Luton’s airport expansion adverts which took place in June.
Adfree Cities was also behind the ban of Toyota’s ‘Born to Roam’ adverts in November 2023, which marked the first time a car advert got banned on environmental grounds.
