Today in 1987, 31 people died after a fire at King's Cross station which began in a machine room under a wooden escalator.  The escalator connected the Piccadilly line - one of five underground train routes which run through King's Cross - with the mainline station.  The fire started as the evening rush hour was trailing off, but hundreds of commuters were still in the station, which is London's busiest.  Many passengers were trapped underground as the escalator went up in flames.  More than 150 firefighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled the blaze and searched for survivors, but they were not able to bring the main fire under control until 10pm.

Investigators said the most probable cause of the fire was a discarded match and smoking on Underground trains had been banned in July 1984, after a fire at Oxford Circus station.  The ban had been extended to all subsurface stations, but smokers often lit cigarettes on the escalators on their way out.  After the King's Cross fire, wooden escalators were phased out.  In 1991 a report found only eight of the 26 safety recommendations made after the inquiry had been implemented fully.  To the outrage of victims' relatives, nobody was ever prosecuted - the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Railway Inspectorate decided there was no justification for charges.