Information sign; "Shelter Full Except To Reserved Ticket Holders", 1941

During the Second World War, many Underground stations were used as public air-raid shelters. To help reduce overcrowding, admission regulations were introduced that included a ticketing system. This sign would have been put in the entrance to the Tube shelter to inform the public that the shelter was full, and that only people with valid tickets could enter. Issued by the local authority concerned, the ticketing system guaranteed regular Tube shelterers their platform space. It was a great improvement on the previous arrangement, in which large numbers of people queued daily outside the station.