Caroline Pidgeon

The Evening Standard reports on plans for sections of the Northern Line to close at 10pm on weeknights, as signalling systems are replaced over the next two years.

In the article, Caroline gives her views:

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib-Dem transport spokeswoman on the London Assembly, encouraged TfL and Tube Lines to “think outside the box” and suggested that full-line closures, lasting several weeks at a time, may be more efficient than repeated weekend shut-downs.

On Saturday 11th July, Caroline visited Wimbledon with Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Shas Sheehan, to campaign on local transport issues.

Caroline, Shas, and local Lib Dem activists collected signatures for the One Hour Bus Ticket petition. They also investigated air quality issues in Raynes Park, and litter problems around Dundonald Road Tramlink station.

In an article for the Lib Dem Voice website, Caroline Pidgeon describes how anomalies in the Oyster card system result in Londoners being overcharged by £500,000 a month when they travel on National Rail services:

This week at City Hall I was accused by Boris Johnson of being a “negative Liberal Democrat” when I dared to question him over some of the problems that have happened as a result of the extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to national rail services across London.

Well I stand by my questioning of the Mayor as there is no doubt that a huge number of Londoners are not getting the best deal that Oyster could deliver. There are serious anomalies in how the system operates, and the full benefits of the technology are simply not being delivered. Most significantly many people using Oyster on the trains, whether they are Londoners or visitors, are being overcharged, sometimes by quite large amounts. This January alone it is estimated that 32,000 passengers were overcharged a total of half a million pounds.

Read the full article here.

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson, has revealed that each and every Londoner is now owed £5 by embassies that evade paying the Congestion Charge. For the first time ever the total unpaid bill for non-payment of Congestion Charge and Penalty Charge Notices now exceeds £40 million.

Through repeated questioning, Caroline Pidgeon has obtained figures from the Mayor showing that the amount owed by embassies soared during 2009 by more than 40%, with the unpaid bill rising by £1 million every month. At the very start of the 2010 the total unpaid bill from embassies stood at £39 million, compared to an unpaid bill of £26 million at the same time last year.

Commenting on these new figures, Caroline Pidgeon said:
"It is shameful that a minority of embassies continue to evade paying the Congestion Charge. British diplomats respect the law of other countries and it is only right that diplomats do the same in this country.