Love on the line

It's not called the 'misery line' for nothing. London Underground's Northern Line sports the most overcrowded carriages and, until recently, some of the oldest, too. Passengers endure the worst delays and most cancellations. A Northern Line minute is routinely measured at 90 seconds.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not called the misery line because it descends the farthest into south London, because its long track splinters and forks more than most, or because the route is coloured a depressing black on the Tube map. (After all, the Metropolitan Line is pink, the Central Line is red, and neither of those are overly fruity or sinful).

Cancelled, overcrowded, southbound and tardy trains aside, the Northern Line does supposedly have one asset: it is where most London singles fall in love. You know, with that special person you spot in the rush hour, the one lost forever because you couldn't pluck up the courage to talk to them.

According to a gumtree.com survey, the misery line is the place Londoners are most likely to have their heads turned by an attractive stranger they want to meet.

Its 'Missed Connections' webpage, with 500 posts a month, offers Londoners the chance to trace people they spot, fancy and want to chat with. Analysis shows that 26 per cent fall in love regularly on the Tube, with those on the Northern Line outnumbering their rivals.

The success rate? No one knows. Still, posts makes for good reading. For example: 'I got on Northern Line @ Tooting Bec on Sunday afternoon, around 1-ish or so and sat diagonally from you. I was wearing a black puffy vest with yellow shoes, dark brown hair; sat with my mum and my sister!'