from BBC News

Tom Wright said he is fed up with being forced to listen to other people's music on public transport.

"It's an invasion of privacy," said Mr Wright, a telecoms technician from Leyton, east London.

He has set up an online petition urging Transport for London (TfL) to take action, which has so far struck a chord with 340 signatories.

Torrent of abuse

Mr Wright, who launched the online campaign with girlfriend Valeria Martinelli, said loud music was a form of anti-social behaviour.

"I once asked a couple of girls to turn their music down, and I was subjected to a torrent of abuse," he told the BBC News website.

"Instead of turning it down, they started blasting music from two mobiles."

He said he does not mind if people use headphones. But he said increasingly some passengers are playing their music without any consideration.

TfL said in a statement they were sympathetic to Mr Wright's complaint.

"We know that it can be very irritating for other passengers when someone is listening to loud music on public transport," it said.

"We try to encourage passengers to show consideration for others while travelling on our network."

Live music is better, anyways..

I remember every day on my way home from school a drunk guy would get on the bus at the same stop and sit down in the same seat and start singing at the top of his voice. Surreal, but definitely a pleasant memory I still remember the song he used to sing (yeah, it was the same one every day)

He sang a song in public!?!? Blantant copyright infringment! Someone has to stop these pirates before the entire industry is ruined!
And those dirty cell phone music pirates! theyre sharing those songs when someone else listens! someone should sue them for their royalties!

yeah okay Im bored on a friday night....

yeah, nothing worse than a group of teenagers whipping out their cellphones and comparing ringtones on a bus at full volume, kill 'em all I say !!

"It's an invasion of privacy," said Mr Wright . . . .

okay, pardon my law student-speak, but a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy on a *public* transportation system! he might think it's rude or tactless--a noise violation or disrupting order or something...but invasion of privacy? no.

and if the music listeners aren't going to use headphones, he could--Bose and other companies make noise-silencing headphones exactly for people who travel often, like Mr. Wright.

I'd love to know if the guy is also complaining to London Transport about the noise coming from their buses' engines or the rattling and crashing made by the tubes as they run over the points and when they open their doors. London Transport could market some of their sounds as a form of torture. How does this guy hear any music over all that cacophony?

that's true Rodrica, especially on the Northern a.k.a misery line or the metropolitan line (purple) - or at least it was when I was a student in London in the 1990's before moving to Canada. What was worse was the crazies on the tube throwing acid or pieces of kentucky fried chicken, the overcrowding (I always seemed to end up with the sweaty armpit of a 7 feet tall Jamaican man in my face) or the baby strollers being caught in the doors because people couldn't wait for 1 minute for the next train. Coming from a sleepy Yorkshire town, London transport was a huge culture shock...