News from London Assembly Labour

Boris admits tube ticket offices may get the chop after all

Navin Shah AM, the London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, has today reacted angrily to the rumours Transport for London are planning to close 144 London Underground ticket offices.

Questioning the Mayor at today’s Assembly Plenary meeting, the Mayor refused to answer Navin’s request for clarification that a “staffed station” means an open ticket office, instead stated that “All London stations will be properly staffed” but that “whether or not a station needs a ticket office at all times” would be reviewed.

The closure programme is a complete contradiction to Boris’ “vaporizing” the threat to 40 ticket offices in 2008. Outer London could well stand to be disproportionately affected, given lower passenger numbers.

Navin said: “Yesterday’s news indicates a major u-turn and I am horrified these closures are rearing their heads again. The Mayor, having once stood and signed the North Harrow petition against closures, is now going back on his promise to residents. One by one every promise he makes to suburban Londoners is being broken amidst pathetic excuses while he takes no responsibility for the TfL budget decisions he has made over the last eighteen months. The Mayor’s manifesto acknowledges the role ticket offices play in communities, and commuters’ increased confidence when a staffed office is open, but it is now patently clear this is another area of London life where Boris will cost you dear.”

Other news from London Assembly Labour

• Ken: "This morning's tube delays are completely unacceptable" - 10 February 2012
• Boris Johnson's comments are ill-judged and offensive - 9 February 2012
• Ken answers his critics about his support for LGBT rights - 8 February 2012