News from Harrow Labour

Boris’s broken ticket office promise a big blow to Harrow

Does Mayor of London’s categorical assurance mean nothing?

When Boris Johnson visited and signed a petition to save the local North Harrow ticket office, in a run up to his campaign to become Mayor of London, he categorically announced that he was absolutely committed to “ensuring there is always a manned ticket office at every station,” and stated: “I will [also] defend local ticket offices.”

Mayor of London has now backtracked and took a complete U turn to announce major cuts to the many ticket offices across London. This will, in particular, affect the suburban stations like Harrow which are usually more affected by security and safety issues, as well as, need to have information as trains and tubes are less frequent and hampered by the maintenance work or network signalling problems.

To add insult to the injury, at Mayor’s Question Time in City Hall, Boris Johnson said that: “The first and most important point to make is no ticket office will be closed. They are not going to be closed.”

Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Bill Stephenson, said: “Boris Johnson misled our residents when he visited Harrow as part of his election campaign to become the Mayor of London. He again failed to tell the truth to the London Assembly at the Mayor’s Question Time when he categorically stated that no ticket offices will close under his programme. This must be one of his biggest broken election promises. Documents issued by his office clearly show he was not telling the truth. Several ticket offices will indeed close, others will close for most of the week, and 90% of offices will see their opening hours drastically cut.

“In fact, nearly 450-500 ticket office will close and 800 staff will lose their jobs under Boris Johnson’s cuts. Many stations will feel less safe and less friendly as a result of this broken election pledge. Harrow residents are entitled to ask what the Mayor of London is delivering.”

Other news from Harrow Labour

• New Year’s greeting: Tory fare rises - 30 December 2010
• Conservative Harrow Council's "culture of fear" condemned - 19 May 2010
• Harrow Labour and Lib Dems join forces to slam Tory scrutiny failure - 26 February 2010