To celebrate Walk to Work Day 2008, London commuters travelling between London Bridge station and The City benefited from the motivation tactics of a squad of 1980s styled fitness instructors, who get very excited about commuters who walk to work!

Commuters travelling between London Bridge station and The City on Thursday 24 April 2008 benefited from the motivation tactics of a squad of 1980s styled fitness instructors, who get very excited about commuters who walk to work!

The squad, organised by the charity Living Streets to celebrate Walk to Work Day 2008, made sure commuters realised that walking part or all of the daily commute is a great way to stay healthy and discover your city. And surprisingly, it's sometimes the quickest way to get where you want to go - 109 tube stations in central London are faster to walk between than to travel by tube*.

Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive of Living Streets said: "We're facing an obesity epidemic in this country, but there is a free and easy way to exercise more: give yourself a daily dose of walking. If you walk as little as twenty minutes each day it will do wonders for your mental and physical health, and what better season to get out there than spring? Pledge to walk more at www.walkingworks.org.uk and we'll help you do it!"

Ben Plowden, Director of the Smarter Travel Unit at TfL said: "By working with Living Streets to encourage people to walk part or all of their daily commute, Transport for London hopes that even more people will discover that walking is a great way to get to work. Walking isn't only the cheapest way to travel - it's also enjoyable, fantastic exercise and often much quicker than people imagine."

Walk to Work Day is part of the Walking Works campaign, which is funded in London by Transport for London. The campaign is urging commuters to walk some or all of the way to and from work, by trying the following:

• Join the London wide ‘Step into spring' pedometer challenge that is taking place between Walk to Work Day (24 April 08) and National Walking Day (31 May 08)
• Think about how you can incorporate walking into your existing routine: could you go for a walk with friends at lunch time? Could you have walking meetings?
• List the hours you spend sitting down - think about how you can reduce them
• Set yourself a goal, and go for it!

Walk to Work Day events will be taking place in businesses all over London, including BSkyB's offices in West London where employees will be able to visit a Walk Doctor for a prescription on how to incorporate more walking into their daily lives.

* Source - AIG for Transport for London, 2006- ENDS -Notes to editors