Rome transport councillor blames ATAC.

Four young Roman students were trapped inside the Metro A line in the early hours of 13 September, according to a report in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The students had been returning home from a night out in the S. Lorenzo district, and after catching the last metro from Termini just after 01.30, they got off a few stops later at Flaminio, a stop just off the central Piazza del Popolo.

However once the train left them on the platform they found the exit gates already locked.

The trapped students were unable to get through to emergency services for half an hour, until a police operator took their call and sent officers to release them.

Rome's new transport councillor Stefano Esposito said he hoped the city's public transport agency ATAC "might pay a little extra attention in the future", while one of the students, Lorenzo, asked pointedly: “What if this had happened to a tourist, or a young girl travelling alone?"