In a recent article by MyLondon, TfL's Director of Operations Nick Dent said:
"I’d like to apologise to customers who have experienced short notice closures. We do everything we can to avoid having to close a station and always work to minimise the length of time a station is closed for. The situation is improving and we are working hard to fill vacant posts. We are also implementing changes that will help to reduce station closures further by enabling us to deploy staff more flexibly, increasing reliability for our customers.”
But Ms Buchan, the MP for Kensington, said it was an “unacceptable situation”.
She wants the Mayor of London to cut staff perks like free travel for family and friends of TfL employees and pour the savings, which she claims is £42m annually, into hiring what she claims is an additional 1,000 staff – or the equivalent to 3-4 extra workers for every Tube station across London. The Tory MP also called on Sadiq Khan to reform what she called TfL’s “gold-plated” pension scheme and bring it in line with other public sector pension plans.
She said the Government authorised an “unprecedented” £6.2bn in support since the pandemic. She said: “Dozens have written to me to express their difficulties getting to school, work or appointments as a direct result of these last-minute closures.
"It goes without saying that many residents rely on tube stations like Holland Park to get around the city so closing them erratically simply isn’t an option. That’s why I am calling on you to fix TfL’s finances and recruit the staff necessary to adequately staff our stations."
The article included a series of testimonials from residents and tube users documenting the level of disruption these closures are having on peoples' lives.
Some notable examples include:
1. “I’m female and I use the Tube at night to get around, or early in the morning. It’s not great when it’s shut because there is no security around and it adds extra time [to my journey].”
2. “[Staff] use notes to say the station is closed but if I’m out and about, I don’t notice them. I have to look to see if it’s closed and sometimes they put a notice on the Underground and sometimes they don’t.”
3. Stoppages rarely appear on his travel app by the time he gets to the station and said they seem “quite random”. He then has to double-back on himself and walk an extra 15 minutes to Paddington Station.
4. “We sometimes miss our scheduled time and our boss always gets angry when we’re late.”
You can read the full article HERE and join my campaign to keep our stations open HERE!
