A mate of mine has been busking on London Underground pitches for the last six months. He plays guitar and sings.

It may have been written above, but getting approval is quite a pallaver. You have to be auditioned (I'm not sure who the selection panel comprises) and have enough of a repertoire to get you through a two-hour session.

It's now all approved pitches underground - any random buskers, without approval or ID, get moved on or busted. Some pitches are more lucrative than others - the central London, busier interchanges, and ones with good acoustics, are favourites for earning more money. After you start you have to have done so many sessions before you can get an-inner London pitch. You have to book by phone on a Tuesday morning, and the lines are usually jammed. Using speed-diallers, using several phones at once, and getting mates to phone in for you are common.

The whole thing is sponsored by Carling - they give TfL money for the pitches, and TfL have to ensure that each pitch is always filled. Apparently, they give licences to more than they have pitches in the knowledge that many buskers will drop out, and that pitches are always full. You do get trombonists, whistlers, jugglers, etc approved (The Woody Allen movie "Broadway Danny Rose" comes to mind).

My friend can make between £20 and £50 on a good night for a 2 hour session (at Piccadilly, for example), but that's pretty much the exception. You don't work a 40-hour-week, remember. It covers the cost of his transport there, and strings, etc.

Not all buskers are poor, homeless or hungry - too many assume it's an alternative to selling The Big Issue. They're working musicians, getting by, maybe even earning a bit.

Norman