Caroline Pidgeon

Lib Dem London Transport Spokesperson Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Harrow East Lib Dem campaigner Nahid Boethe at Stanmore station in the run up to the General Election to look at the serious issue of step free access. Harrow Liberal Democrats were collecting signatures for a petition to make the station properly step free. Despite the station being described as 'step free' the reality is that at Stanmore Tube station wheelchair users not only face a very long journey to access the ramp but they also face a step between the platform and the trains.

"It is just disgraceful that at present there are no plans to improve access at Stanmore tube station until 2016 at the earliest. This situation is totally unacceptable, especially as the station is widely used by patients from across London who need to visit the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital" commented Caroline Pidgeon.

Caroline Pidgeon AM recently visited Harrow on the Hill to put her support behind the campaign by Harrow Observer to have the long-awaited lifts installed at the station. Caroline was joined by local Lib Dem Councillors Chris Noyce and Paul Scott.

Step-free access is vital at this station which sees around 10 million people use it every year. It is an important interchange between two branches of the Metropolitan line and the London Marylebone to Aylesbury overground rail service.

Research by Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, has revealed London Underground are planning to close ticket offices across the underground by 7458 hours every week.

Responding to London Underground’s defence of the reduced hours and their repeated claim that all tube stations with a ticket office will continue to have one, Caroline Pidgeon said:

“London Underground and the Mayor are playing with words when they keep peddling the claim that no ticket office will actually close. The harsh reality is that if you can’t access a ticket office for most hours of the day it is effectively closed.

“Ticket office staff carry out many tasks to help customers, with their duties going far beyond just serving tickets. If staff numbers are severely reduced at 9 out of 10 stations it will become far more difficult for staff to help disabled and vulnerable customers and other people who need assistance including visitors.

“London Underground's simplistic portrayal of many ticket offices being quiet places where few tickets are actually sold overlooks the vital service and safety that staffed ticket offices provide. If the plans were to allow ticket office staff to go in and out of the office, depending on the needs at a station, and without a reduction in staff numbers that would help to improve customer services. But to simply cut ticket office hours and take away so many frontline staff makes no sense. In the end it is passengers who will lose out.”

In an article for the Liberal Democrat Voice website, Caroline Pidgeon warmly welcomes the new London bike hire scheme as a "tremendous idea", while pointing out that Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone are eager to take more credit for it then they deserve:

Despite its launch being associated with quite a number of problems – including a highly complex registration process, and a number of cyclists being overcharged – no one can deny that the scheme is proving incredibly popular. And let’s be realistic, no major scheme ever starts without at least some minor teething problems. Of course I will be chasing hard until these glitches are resolved, and they certainly must be, but the bottom line is that the bike hire scheme is a tremendous idea. Especially if the scheme is expanded it has the potential to help reduce congestion and pollution as well as making it easier for Londoners, visitors and tourists to get around the capital at very little cost. Most significantly it could play a vital role in transforming the status of cycling...