A Tube driver supposed to tell the media about the major repair work planned on the system instead told of the "terrible state" it is in.

Clynt Sandford, 44, from Lewes, went on to describe how the underground had got worse during recent years.

Mr Sandford, who is a member of the train drivers' union Aslef, said: "I'm very concerned about safety. Things get reported and then nothing is done."

He gave his views as members of the media rode in his District line train cab from Whitechapel to Earl's Court.

This section of the District line, and the whole of the Circle line, will be shut for 17 weekends during the next few months so track, ballast and sleepers can be repaired.

Mr Sandford, who has been with the Underground for 29 years, 26 of them as a driver, said: "The system has deteriorated considerably over the past 20 years."

District line general manager Bob Thorogood, who was travelling in the cab with Mr Sandford, said parts of the system dated back to the 1860s.

With Mr Sandford, Mr Thorogood pointed out the sections of the line where speed limits, some of 10mph, had to be imposed because of the poor standard of track.

The repair weekends start on May 1 but last week the District line was closed between Embankment and Earl's Court because of a partial collapse of a drain at Victoria.

Twelve of the 17 weekends of work will take place between the beginning of May and early December.

The five remaining weekends in 2005 will be announced later.