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Special enlarged seats for obese people have been installed at underground stations in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The seats have not proved popular with obese customers Photo: CEN
The blue chairs are nearly twice as wide as normal chairs and can support passengers weighing up to 40 stone without breaking.
The seats are accompanied by signs picturing a rotund customer with the words "Priority chair for obese people".
They have been installed in response to the country's growing obesity problem, in an attempt to encourage larger people to use public transport.
But transport bosses say that they are being shunned by obese customers who are too ashamed to use them.
"It may be that they don't want to think of themselves as fat or they resent being put in with pensioners and the disabled," said one manager.
The Sao Paulo underground system may be going out of its way to help obese passengers, but other transport firms are less understanding.
United Airlines has started to charge overweight passengers more if they cannot fit into conventional economy seats.
The seats have not proved popular with obese customers Photo: CEN
The blue chairs are nearly twice as wide as normal chairs and can support passengers weighing up to 40 stone without breaking.
The seats are accompanied by signs picturing a rotund customer with the words "Priority chair for obese people".
They have been installed in response to the country's growing obesity problem, in an attempt to encourage larger people to use public transport.
But transport bosses say that they are being shunned by obese customers who are too ashamed to use them.
"It may be that they don't want to think of themselves as fat or they resent being put in with pensioners and the disabled," said one manager.
The Sao Paulo underground system may be going out of its way to help obese passengers, but other transport firms are less understanding.
United Airlines has started to charge overweight passengers more if they cannot fit into conventional economy seats.
