British Transport Police deployed to rail network to enforce ban on unnecessary travel during lockdown
FIVE hundred transport cops are patrolling the UK's rail network tonight to enforce the PM's coronavirus travel clampdown.
They have been tasked with making sure passengers know ONLY those making essential journeys for work should now be using the Tube and trains.
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Sean O'Callaghan, Assistant Chief Constable at British Transport Police, said: "The measures announced yesterday by the Prime Minister are there to save lives which is part of the work our officers do every day.
"We are supporting rail operators and those key workers making their journeys home tonight by deploying 500 officers across the rail network nationally.
"They will be patrolling stations, supporting railway staff and reminding the public of the urgent need to follow the government advice - only those making essential journeys for work should be using the Tube and rail network.
"We strongly urge the rest of the public to do the right thing and help us save lives by staying at home and slowing the spread of the virus."
Earlier today we told how Londoners rammed tube services across the capital less than 12 hours after Boris Johnson ordered Brits to stay home to stop coronavirus.
Furious commuters were forced to cram onto trains and buses after Sadiq Khan cut back transport services.
Many could be key workers, or employed in jobs that don't allow them to work at home - but are now having to travel on reduced services.
A NHS nurse was just one to share a photo of a packed Tube this morning, saying: "This is my tube this morning. I live in zone 4 and work in a zone 1 hospital.
"I love my job, but now I'm risking my health just on the journey in?!
"@SadiqKhan put the tube service back to normal so we can all spread out, or @BorisJohnson start policing who's getting on. Help me!"
The drastic measures announced this week which will change every aspect of Brits' lives included:
- All gatherings of more than two people in public were forbidden – meaning a ban on all social events, including weddings and baptisms
- Tens of thousands of non-essential shops were ordered to close
- Communal play and exercise areas inside parks will also be shut down, but not parks themselves
- Places of worship such as churches and mosques must also shut, except to host for funerals
- Travel on roads, trains and buses was also banned, unless it’s essential to get to work.
Boris' new measures banned travel on roads, trains and buses, unless it's essential to get to work as the coronavirus death toll hit 335 with more than 6,000 cases.
Some commuters took to social media this morning, pointing out the contradiction of being told to stay two metres apart - but still having to push onto public transport.
Another NHS nurse wrote: "Being on the tube is making me feel uneasy it is too busy&there is no space for social distancing. @SadiqKhan and @BorisJohnson you need to go further.
"Monitor who is getting on the train and allow more services to run.
"I feel like I am risking my health trying to get to work."
Nurse Julia Harris, who commutes to work at Imperial College NHS Trust, said she had left earlier and changed her route to avoid crowds but still found the District Line to be busy.
She said: "Seats on the train all had at least one person so people needed to stand and the District Line was busy as well. I still don't think things are improved as a large amount of people are commuting early in the morning.
"It is concerning because I have to come to work. The choice isn't there and my commute is quite long. I worry for my health more on my commute than actually being in the hospital."
Ms Harris said the reduction in Transport for London services meant "you now have more people waiting and piling onto the tubes and trains".
"The issue is key workers aren't just health professionals - I think we under-estimated how many people are needed to keep things running."
A Tube driver also shared a video of the packed services, begging: "please ppl stay at home, I’m a tube driver, I go to work to move London’s key workers so when I commute in and get this make me furious."
Tube union reps are reportedly furious at the crowds packing onto public transport, with talk of suspending workers.
Another commuter shared a photo snapped on the Victoria line, writing: "So it would appear the words 'lockdown' & 'keyworker' are being applied liberally.
"Victoria line @ 06:20 still very busy with people still going about jobs (construction etc). Pointless.
"Had to let two tubes go past. Suspect only ID checks @ tubes will work or shut LDN transport."
He later added: ";As a nurse trying to get to work I am so angry at the selfishness of other people."
Transport for London has issued a warning to commuters, telling them that public transport "should only be used for essential journeys".
A number of stations and services were closed from March 21.
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Speaking this morning, the mayor said that 20 per cent of TfL's workforce was currently either sick or self-isolating.
Khan told Good Morning Britain: "The reason why public transport is still running is to enable key workers to get to work and back home.
"My message is - don't use public transport unless you really, really need to get to work.
"If you really have to - don't use rush hour."
It comes after Boris last night branded coronavirus "the biggest threat this country has faced for decades."
He said: “Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope.
“Because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses.
“If you don’t follow the rules the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings.
“We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to.
“But at present there are just no easy options. The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost.”
The PM ordered the greatest restrictions on British way of life in decades after a failure of the Government’s social distancing policy.