Commuters vented their fury at Sadiq Khan again today as the London Underground was packed with key workers including NHS staff on day three of Britain’s historic coronavirus lockdown.
The Mayor of London, who has sparked fury and defied the Prime Minister by cutting Tube services while blaming staff sickness at Transport for London, is being accused of ‘risking lives’ because of the conditions on the trains.
But Mr Khan doubled down over the criticism today, tweeting: ‘One in three TfL staff are off sick or self-isolating: we cannot run more services. Employers: staff must work from home wherever possible to help protect our key workers who need to travel. If you have to go to work, please don’t travel at rush hour.’
More shocking pictures of packed carriages and platforms emerged again today due to there being an insufficient number of trains to carry people with no choice but to go to work, including medics on the frontline saving lives.
Denise Bennett tweeted this morning: ‘Message from daughter, going to work as a nurse in London – ‘Tube station is rammed’. How can she stay safe, keep her patients safe when she has to travel to work like this, Sadiq Khan?’
Debz Lipsphil was on the Tube today and tweeted: ‘Sadiq Khan, why have you reduced the Tube service? Key workers are forced to be squashed together! Nuts! Thanks for that stupid unsafe idea!’ Meanwhile Richard Heath said: ‘No wonder the country (is) not taking this serious when the London Tube (is) still like f***ing sardines’.
And Patricia Pereira posted: ‘Jubilee line service packed, Waterloo station escalators out of use forcing people to use the ones that are working and be extremely near. Three TfL staff by gate line talking, no one manage the crowd (or) helping on social distancing! I am a key worker, I don’t want to get ill!’
MailOnline’s Piers Morgan tweeted: ‘Ridiculous. Come on Mayor Sadiq Khan – you must run enough trains for people to maintain 2m distancing or they will infect each other and be unable to provide essential work. Sort it’.
Mr Khan has axed the Tube’s Night service, and drivers on that shift could be drafted in to ease pressure during the day – with workers saying staff are ‘dropping like flies’ with about a third off sick or going into self-isolation.
However early-morning Tube use today was down 13 per cent on the previous day, while bus use was down 8 per cent. Passenger numbers yesterday morning were down 92 per cent compared with the same day last year.
A Central Line train on the London Underground is pictured at 5.45am today, showing carriages are full even before rush hour
Commuters pack onto a Central line train into London this morning as people continue to travel into the capital
The escalator at London Waterloo station this morning where social distancing for key workers was impossible again
Commuters face a 14-minute wait for a District line train at Ealing Common station in West London this morning
Critics including MailOnline’s Piers Morgan have urged Sadiq Khan to put on more Tube trains to avoid spreading coronavirus
Some passengers stated that their Tube journeys were quieter than normal today. Twitter user @mortimusprime-x posted two pictures showing carriages with empty seats, and wrote: ‘My normally packed #tubes this morning on the way to work… thank you to all those staying at home #keyworker £keepsafe #stayathome.’
One in three of TfL staff are ill or in self-isolation – including large numbers of drivers and customer-facing workers – with the sickness figures appearing to be disproportionately higher than among frontline workers in the NHS, police and fire services.
Some have blamed the strength of the Tube unions and their threat to pull away members for the high level of staff absence.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan doubled down over the criticism today, tweeting: ‘One in three TfL staff are off sick or self-isolating: we cannot run more services.
But one Tube driver told BBC London: ‘We are attacked no matter what we do. Most of us have families and because people who should be in quarantine or practising social distancing aren’t following guidelines we are being exposed to the virus even more. We are dropping like flies.’
Another driver told the broadcaster: ‘We have 30/80 drivers off and half the managers. We are trying our best. We want to do more but we don’t decide the service levels.’
MailOnline can reveal that during rush hour today some Underground lines are currently only running one train every 20 minutes, when it should be one every three to five minutes, causing more crammed conditions in ‘death trap’ carriages and on heaving platforms.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said: ‘My own view is that we should be able to run a better Tube system at the moment, we should be able to get more Tubes on the line.’
Commuters hold onto bars as they pack onto a Central line Underground train into the capital this morning
Commuters wait for a Central line train at Stratford station on the London Underground this morning
Passengers sit on a London Underground Circle line train this morning as the UK continues to be on lockdown
He claimed ‘I do not wish in any way to cast aspersions on what is going on at TfL’, and pledged to give the mayor ‘every support’ to get through ‘what seems to me to be his present logistical difficulties’.
As deaths in the capital doubled, the Mayor of London is facing mounting fury and pressure to restore services to normal levels with some NHS workers claiming they are now more worried about travelling to work than treating coronavirus patients in hospital.
But in a statement Mayor Khan revealed more train services will go and said: ‘Nearly a third of TfL’s staff are now off sick or self-isolating – including train drivers and crucial control centre staff.
‘Many of them have years of safety-critical training in order to run specific lines – so it is simply not possible to replace them with others.
‘TfL will do everything possible to continue safely running a basic service for key workers, including our amazing NHS staff, but if the number of TfL staff off sick or self-isolating continues to rise – as we sadly expect it will – we will have no choice but to reduce services further.’.
There were grim scenes on the Tube again today where commuters with no choice but to go to work were faced to stand nose-to-nose with strangers on teeming trains.
Commuters at Canning Town Station in East London this morning wait to board a Jubilee line Underground service
A police officer stands guard at Canning Town station in East London today as people continue to travel by Tube
London Underground passengers wait to board a Tube train at Canning Town station in East London this morning
Underground commuters board and alight from a train at Canning Town station in East London this morning
Key worker Tony Drew tweeted: ‘No-one is listening to you and don’t need to reduce the service as much as you have. You need to get more trains on and stop putting the lives of key workers like me at risk’.
Kate Mat wrote: ‘I have zero respect for Sadiq & TFL! Are they really blind or just heartless??! They are putting key workers life in danger!!!! Nurses, doctors and other key workers can’t practice social distancing on cramped tubes!’
A senior nurse named Danny posted on Twitter: ‘Another busy tube. Can we not stagger people’s start times so we aren’t all squashed on the same tube! This is unsafe and not fair!’
And Barry Trimble, whose work involves ensuring cancer patients receive chemotherapy, posted: ‘The Tube is packed, with social distancing impossible. We need more people to stay at home and more trains running in morning and evening peak.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said there is ‘no good reason’ Tube services have been slashed and Mr Johnson also questioned why up to three quarters of services had been axed in a call with Mr Khan yesterday.
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