‘Toe touchers’ are plaguing UK swimming pools — but some say it’s ‘standard’

If you don’t like your feet being touched, you might want to avoid certain serious swimmers (Picture: Getty Images)

Relaxing into a breaststroke in the slow lane at my local pool, I noticed the swimmer behind me was getting impatient. For a minute, I thought I’d mistakenly plonked myself in a faster lane by accident, but no.

Flashing up and down at lightning speeds, he was now passive-aggressively tailgating me – with minimal distance, might I add – as though he was trying to win gold at the Olympics, a feat my casual pace was hampering.

In my mind, he shouldn’t have been in the slow lane in the first place. Worse still, he wasn’t going to put me out of my misery with a simple, inoffensive overtake.

It’s not an isolated incident either; in the past, I’ve even seen pensioners tagged by people who simply can’t exercise a modicum of patience.

Sometimes, these Lido McQueens use a ‘foot tap’ to signal they want to get past. But even though the practice can seem polite and prove effective, it doesn’t always go down well.

According to Speedo’s seven commandments of lane swimming, it’s a ‘universal gesture among club swimmers – if you want to overtake, gently touch the toes of the swimmer in front.’ They should then pause at the end of the lane to let you pass.

Foot tapping is apparently an international custom (Picture: Getty Images)

One of the main problems is that not everyone is aware of this piece of pool etiquette.

As Andrew Clark, manager of the London Aquatics Centre, writes on the Speedo website, it’s an ‘international custom, except in the UK where only club swimmers seem to know about it and people get sensitive about being touched.’

Although I’m not a club swimmer, I’m not a beginner either, and I understand why it could prove controversial.

Looking back on my awkward encounter this week, I see how a foot tap might have saved me from feeling like I was being hounded by the swimmer who was hot on my heels. That said, I simply don’t want a stranger to be touching my feet in public. What about the hygiene? The intimacy? At least buy me a drink first.

And it seems I’m not alone: many others have experienced a similar level of unease about this, let’s face it, very middle-class issue.

Writing in the r/Swimming Subreddit, @Aggravating-Dust7430 previously said that they feel ‘panic’ when someone touches their feet while they’re trying to enjoy a few simple lengths.

‘I always try not to slow people down, so if they are very close and faster than me, near the end of the lane I’d let them pass,’ they explained. ‘But on occasion, someone just touches my feet in the middle of the lane. That’s when I put in 200% more effort and get 7% faster.’

Meanwhile, @thepatiosong said they’d be ‘extremely annoyed’ if someone tapped them on the foot, arguing that they’re ‘sufficiently lane-aware’ to know if they’re likely to be overtaken during the next length and can simply wait for the ‘speedster’ to pass them at the next wall anyway.

‘Anything to avoid unnecessary interaction,’ they joked, while another user added that where they live in Switzerland, foot tapping isn’t a thing – and they find the whole concept absolutely ‘bizarre.’

Some have said they’d be ‘extremely annoyed’ if someone touched them mid-swim (Picture: Getty Images)

On the contrary, there were some ardent toe-tappers who held firm that it’s just the polite thing to do and – despite the fact many on the receiving end have said it makes them uncomfortable – they have no qualms about getting up close and personal with a stranger’s tootsies.

‘If you are the faster swimmer and want to pass someone, you should tap their feet once and then pass them,’ @bebopped said, while @Deacon_Mushrat1 noted that this is ‘actually a very standard lap swimming convention.’

Here at Metro, it’s equally divisive, inspiring horrified comments like from ‘touching toes feels way too intimate’ and ‘I’m never going swimming again now that I know this is a possibility’ to ‘If someone did it to me I would kick them.’

‘I feel like that’s something swimming lanes should ask swimmers to consent to,’ added another staffer, but one highlighted how it can help ‘avoids too many clashes’ as ‘people can get quite rough shoving each other out of the way’.

Whatever your thoughts on it though, it’s good to be aware foot taps are a thing. That way, when you feel something brush your toes while you’re perfecting your front crawl at the leisure centre (and have confirmed it’s not a rogue plaster floating by), you know what to do.

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