BORIS JOHNSON was told today to ‘pull his own socks up’ and sort out the Tube chaos that has seen serious delays on all Underground lines over the past month.
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This morning’s signal foul-ups on the District and Piccadilly lines and lack of trains on the Metropolitan line only added to the sense of decay picked up by many frustrated commuters.
In October, the London Mayor ordered Transport for London to “pull their socks up” after a series of service failures and engineering hold-ups.
He was, he said, “fuming with exasperation”.
But Johnson is in ultimate charge of the Tube network and after weeks of continuing chaos since his Canute-like order, the Mayor now finds himself in the firing line.
Even his transport advisor, Kulveer Ranger, admits his boss is worried about the state of the Underground.
“The Mayor watches the levels of service on the Tube from a screen in his office like a hawk,” he said.
But sitting in his office watching a digital train set isn’t enough, according to former Mayor Ken Livingstone.
“Londoners are fed up with the daily delays on the Tube,” said Livingstone.
“It’s about time the Mayor acted to tackle the failures which are causing misery for millions of commuters. Under Boris Johnson, reports of passengers being forced to evacuate trains and walk through underground tunnels have become a regular occurrence.”
Livingstone’s Labour colleague, Val Shawcross of the London Assembly, also put the boot into Johnson’s record as Tube boss.
“Nearly every day there is a signal failure or major delay on the Tube,” said Shawcross.
Livingstone also pointed out that Johnson has failed to intervene directly into the on-going dispute between TfL and the main union of Tube workers, the RMT.
“The Mayor’s refusal to meet representatives of the transport unions and failure to show any leadership in dealing with the industrial action has meant London has suffered three major Tube strikes,” he said.
