Commuters blast crammed Tube carriages as Sadiq Khan is accused of failing to ‘follow up’ on deal for PPE for TfL staff

COMMUTERS hit out over crowded Tubes and buses today as Sadiq Khan was slammed for failing to "follow up" on a PPE deal to protect TfL staff.

Worried passengers posted pictures of busy carriages this morning, with one sarcastically saying "I felt so safe on the tube this morning", adding "second wave anyone?".

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It comes after London Mayoral Tory candidate Shaun Bailey criticised the mayor's handling of giving PPE to London transport staff, and his threat to pull services from Monday in a funding war.

He told Good Morning Britain: "I went out and found PPE for the mayor and gave him the number of providers who could give him 1.5million pieces of PPE.

"He failed to follow up on it."

Mr Khan was heavily criticised when the lockdown began for being slow to give bus and rail workers proper protection against the killer virus - with dozens of TfL workers dying on the frontline.

Last night, after blackmailing the Government in a bid to get a £2bn grant, Mr Khan crumbled and handed control of the capital's transport system over.

In return he got a £1.6bn bailout, as confused commuters battle with unsafe conditions. To make up for the lost fund, he also agreed to hike the London congestion charge up to £15-a-day next month,

And today he continued to play the blame game while admitting full services won't be back by Monday, despite being required to in the deal and passengers continuing to crush into reduced trains.

An angry commuter today tweeted: "So why isn’t Sadiq Khan monitoring this? Management and people’s safety is the mayors priority."

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A shocked passenger added: "6am and already over occupied. And why are these people not covering their faces? It’s really quite selfish."

Mr Bailey told GMB: "He's managed TfL poorly. The mayor tried to leverage our safety against the government."

Since Brits unable to work from home were told to head back to the office on Wednesday, public transport has been much busier.

Pictures of people crammed into carriages and forced to sit next to each other on rammed buses have emerged this week.

And today it has been revealed the central London levy is back with a bang on Monday, after being suspended on March 23 at the start of lockdown.

From June 22 it will leap from £11.50 to £15 - a 30 per cent jump - and will run seven days a week from 7am to 1pm.

Free travel for millions of London schoolkids will be axed for now, and Freedom Passes will be suspended from use during rush hours.

Mr Khan again tried to blame the Government today, claiming the deal "forced Londoners to pay a heavy price for doing the right thing" after the two sides came to an agreement on Transport for London funding.

He said: "I want to be completely honest and upfront with Londoners - this is not the deal I wanted. But it was the only deal the Government put on the table and I had no choice but to accept it to keep the Tubes and buses running."

It comes as:

• Ministers are in talks to buy as many antibody tests as possible
• A&E attendance at hospitals in England falls by 57 per cent to lowest figure on record
• London 'could be free of the virus within a fortnight'
• Boris Johnson is set to tackle obesity after his own hospital coronavirus battle
• Experts say one in three Brits may have already been infected with coronavirus

This morning Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced British Transport Police will be given £1.5 million of additional funding to boost the number of officers at railway stations in London.

He said: "I want to thank the British Transport Police, transport operators and frontline staff, who are working incredibly hard to ensure people who need to get to work are able to do so safely.

"Extra boots on the ground working closely with station staff will help manage crowding, provide clear guidance and ensure passengers have the space to maintain social distancing."

Commuters were urged not to use public transport if possible this week to avoid adding to the numbers - but with smaller services still running the network has struggled to deliver safe travel.

And Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis today admitted he "wouldn't" get on a busy tube train and instead would adhere to social distancing and use a bike instead.

Mr Lewis told LBC that he "would probably think about finding a bike and jumping on a Boris bike and cycling across London".

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The Labour mayor will now have to get Tubes running back to 100 per cent capacity as soon as possible and use No10’s Stay Alert campaigns on the network.

Staff sickness rates have to be reported directly to the Government, which will also conduct a wide-ranging review into Transport for London’s funding and structure.

Mr Khan had been accused by No10 and Tory MPs of “playing politics” during the Covid crisis to try to up the amount of money handed to the network.

A senior Government source said: “We were always prepared to consider putting more money into keeping Tube and bus ­services running in London and to help the travelling public stay safe from coronavirus.

“But we were not prepared to accept ludicrous demands from a profligate mayor and this money comes with many strings attached.”

As a result, ticket prices are expected to rise at the rate of inflation plus one per cent, according to those close to the deal.

There have been fears over commuters forced to cram together on the reduced public transport.

Signs now tell them if their journey is not essential, they should go home.

London has the lowest R rate of infection in the nation at just 0.4, but the mayor’s cuts could have sent it soaring again.

Ex-Tory Transport Minister Theresa Villiers told The Sun his negotiation strategy had been akin to “blackmail”.

She said: “The Government has come to the rescue of the mayor. But it’s vital the mayor now restores a full level of service.

“He must also get a grip on the TfL budget. If he hadn’t disastrously mismanaged TfL finances, London would have better prepared for this pandemic shock.

“He failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining.”

A source close to the mayor responded: “It’s hardly playing politics when the simple fact is TfL has lost 90 per cent of its revenue that it needs to operate.”

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps yesterday stressed people had a “civic duty” to avoid public transport if possible during the crisis.

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