A businessman is warning commuters to be careful with their laptops after his £1,000 MacBook Pro was chewed up by a London Tube escalator leaving it curled up like a piece of paper.
Philipp Bellessort had just launched his own recruitment firm when he was travelling home from a client meeting using the underground, when he got off at Bond Street.
Having placed his laptop case at his feet, the 28-year-old heard a crunching noise and realised the bag had been sucked into the escalator steps as they rose.
The freak accident tore the bag but also crushed the laptop, twisting the metal and completely destroying the device – including three months of hard work that it contained.
London Blunder-ground: Businessman Philipp Bellessort’s £1,000 MacBook Pro was chewed up by a London Tube escalator leaving it curled up like a piece of paper
Mac attack: Having placed his laptop case at his feet, the 28-year-old heard a crunching noise and realised the bag had been sucked into the escalator steps as they rose
The young new business owner lost his contacts, client data and operating systems in one fell swoop and is now having to start over from scratch.
Mr Bellessort, from West London, said: ‘This wasn’t a good start. I started my own company so the laptop was my work.
‘I was travelling from a client meeting in Acton when it happened.
‘I put my MacBook down on the escalator step as I was going up it. As I was half-way up, the bag got sucked into it.
‘At first I heard the bag tear then I looked down and saw through the hole in the bag that there were some wire bits exposed too.
‘I knew then that it wasn’t just the bag that had broken. I opened it up and realised it had been torn apart.
‘When I picked it up and looked what damage had been done, I was in shock.
‘It didn’t damage the escalator or stop it at all. It just torn the laptop apart.
‘The screen is shattered, everything is cracked in half. I haven’t checked inside but I fear that the battery acid is leaking.
This is Siri-ous: Mr Bellessort had just launched his own recruitment firm when he was travelling home from a client meeting using the underground, when he got off at Bond Street
‘All the back is bent and the touchpad cracked.’
Mr Bellessort has now been forced to contact his clients and notify them of the incident after losing all his data needed to do the job – and now he’ll have to start again from scratch.
He said: ‘All my work is gone. I’ve lost my files, systems and programs. In recruitment, it’s all about CVs that are on the computer and using materials online.
‘£1,000 for a small business just starting up is the cost of two-months’ rent for the office, LinkedIn for two months for example. It’s two months of operating a business that I need to find to replace my Mac.’
Living with flatmates in London, he is now looking for a way to replace his laptop.
He said: ‘I set up my own company because I’d had positive feedback from clients and decided to go solo.
Steps must be taken: Mr Bellessort said: ‘My advice to people who own a laptop is don’t put your laptop bag on the floor while on an escalator if you’ve got a Mac in it because it could happen to you’
‘I started the company three months ago and I’ve worked for seven days a week, 18 hours a day since then. All that is lost.
‘I feel like I’m being tested. You either laugh or cry but I’m good at taking the view that it is a big problem today but it won’t be forever.
‘I’ve had to email clients who I’ve been working with to tell them what happened. I’ve had to call them and apologise.’
The businessman is hoping to prevent others going through the same thing and wants to warn people that escalators can cause much more damage than they might think.
Mr Bellessort said: ‘My advice to people who own a laptop is don’t put your laptop bag on the floor while on an escalator if you’ve got a Mac in it because it could happen to you.
‘When it happened, most people didn’t even notice but one woman looked at me in shock. Her jaw dropped.’
A TfL spokesperson said: ‘We are investigating what happened here after the customer reported the incident to us. We have posters and announcements reminding customers to keep their belongings clear of escalators.’