I've not lived in London for more than a decade. I always thought the black snot was from the Tube. Is it not?
I've lived in London all my life and I only get black bogeys on days that I've been on the tube. Before COVID that was every day.
I lived on Upper Street in Angel, London by some traffic lights and there was always a layer of black dust inside. I assumed it was brake particulate.
It is, but not just from it.
Yup, especially on the older lines (Northern, Victoria, Jubilee, Bakerloo). Particulate pollution can be two orders of magnitude higher than at street level. This tends to be glossed over when trumpeting the success of ULEZ measures pushing people away from cars and onto public transport, and I say that as a non-car-owner.