When people talk about the tunnel of love, they probably don't mean the Northern Line between Bank and Golders Green.

But for Marc Sosnow, 30, it was the perfect place to clinch a first date with the girl he is about to marry. It was a situation many of us have been in, staring longingly at that impossibly-attractive creature on the platform, yearning to walk up and talk to them, but somehow feeling paralysed, worrying that it would seem weird.

But Marc seized his moment with Naomi Caplin, 26, from Hendon minutes after glimpsing her on the platform at Bank station.

"I had noticed Naomi at a law seminar the day before and asked about her. But I didn't know then if I was ever going to get the chance to see her again. That evening I saw her on the platform. I hadn't seen her there before," said Marc, of Regents Park Road, Finchley.

"I sidled up to Naomi and we had a chat. Because it was rush hour we were actually standing in the carriage. It was just good fortune for me that there hadn't been a train beforehand for four minutes. That meant there were more people on the train so we couldn't move and were stuck in each other's company for about 40 minutes, which I think clinched it.

"I had to use all my negotiating skills," said Marc.

That was in October 2002. Marc has since proposed to Naomi, of the Quadrant something that involved another Northern Line journey this time to Euston, where the Magic Circle headquarters is based. Marc, who is a magician in his spare time, excused himself before returning in a tuxedo and leading Naomi to the Room of Illusions, where he had prepared a meal.

"I asked her to pick a card they were all different.

She picked one and slowly turned it over it said, 'Will you marry me?'"

Naomi acquiesced which was good news for Marc, not least because her family and his were gathered at the Magic Circle with a celebratory cake. Marc has this advice for anyone with a crush on a fellow commuter ahead of Valentine's Day. "Put on your bravest smile and go for it," he said. "If you miss the opportunity, you may always regret it. There is no such thing as coincidence."