When I was studying photojournalism in Sheffield in the early 1990s I visited London a few times and I did notice that the Guardian Angels actually had regular patrols of the underground to promote passenger safety.

I met with them a couple of times in February and March 1992 but the photos were never published.

They did stand out in their distinctive red jackets and red berets and I am sure they reassured passengers. I even witnessed them helping someone who was clearly in need of help during my time with their patrols.

In case you don’t know the organisation was founded on February 13, 1979, in New York City and it had since expended to more than 130 cities and 13 countries worldwide. However, in the beginning, the city mayor Ed Koch publicly opposed the group but he later changed his view and the group was later publicly supported by city mayors Rudi Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.

Having said that I was surprised to find them operating in London and, as I recall, each evening would begin where each volunteer was searched to make sure they were carrying no weapons before they would ride the underground to help where it was needed.

I believe they were there briefly and I am struggling to find any reference to them these days which is a pity. This slideshow represents a combination of my two nights with them but I reckon it makes for a record of the time.

For the film geeks out there I was using HP5+ rated at 400 ISO and Kodak Tmax 3200 film and the light was quite challenging to say the least. Apparently there was a rule on the underground against flash photography because, quite rightly, it might blind or distract the tube drivers.