 replaced Oswald's voice on the overhead announcement with a new electronic recording. Dr McCollum, who met her late husband during a trip to Morroco in 1992, told BBC News that she loved hearing Oswald's voice while travelling on the tube, even when he was still alive, and the announcements became even more special to her after his death. She explained: "Since he died I would sit and wait for the next train until I heard his voice. On November 1 he wasn't there. I was just stunned when Oswald wasn't there anymore. I inquired and I was told there was a new digital system and they could not get his voice on it." After learning just how much hearing Oswald's voice meant to her, TfL arranged for a CD recording to be made and sent to Dr McCollum, with the gift arriving just before Christmas. Staff were so moved by the story that Oswald's voice was reinstated at the station in 2013, and can still be heard by passengers to this day. Nigel Holness, director of London Underground, gave the following statement at the time: "Transport for London were approached by the widow of Oswald La){kind=link}
A widowed woman grieving for her late husband would regularly sit and wait at the same train station – not to catch a train but to simply feel close to her late spouse once more
London commuters have been left greatly touched by the story of Dr Margaret McCollum, a widowed GP who would regularly go and sit at the Embankment train station for a heartbreaking reason. For 15 happy years, Dr McCollum had been married to the theatre actor Oswald Laurence, whose voice was used for the London Underground’s ‘Mind the gap’ overhead announcement.
Oswald’s voice was used on the northbound Northern Line, but was later phased out, with Embankment being the very last station to use it. Following Oswald’s death in 2007, Dr McCollum would regularly travel to Embankment from her north London home just to hear her husband speak once more, and was left devastated when, in November 2012, Transport for London (TFL) replaced Oswald’s voice on the overhead announcement with a new electronic recording.
Dr McCollum, who met her late husband during a trip to Morroco in 1992, told BBC News that she loved hearing Oswald’s voice while travelling on the tube, even when he was still alive, and the announcements became even more special to her after his death. She explained: “Since he died I would sit and wait for the next train until I heard his voice. On November 1 he wasn’t there. I was just stunned when Oswald wasn’t there anymore. I inquired and I was told there was a new digital system and they could not get his voice on it.”
After learning just how much hearing Oswald’s voice meant to her, TfL arranged for a CD recording to be made and sent to Dr McCollum, with the gift arriving just before Christmas. Staff were so moved by the story that Oswald’s voice was reinstated at the station in 2013, and can still be heard by passengers to this day.