Caroline's news

Commenting on the news that 4000 BMW cars will be shipped in from Germany to transport officials during the Olympics, London Assembly Lib Dem leader Caroline Pidgeon said:

"As we were promised that the 2012 Games would be the greenest Olympics ever to take place, only electric vehicles should have been considered.

"Electric vehicles are not only quieter, but far less harmful to people’s lungs.

"The 2012 Games should have been a big boost to the growth of electric vehicles in the UK, but instead we have vehicles which merely add to London’s serious air pollution."

Read the full story here in the Daily Mail.

The London SE1 website reports on Caroline Pidgeon's question to the Mayor about the cost of the office space TfL is renting in the Palestra building in Southwark:

Caroline Pidgeon: With work underway to look at co-location of Underground and Surface Control centres, are you aware of any lower-cost office space in Greater London than currently proposed at Palestra?

Calling for further action to install Trixi mirrors that would ensure lorry drivers can see cyclists at dangerous junctions, London Assembly Lib Dem leader Caroline Pidgeon said:

"After so many cycle deaths this year on London's roads and a rise in cyclists killed or hurt on roads across the UK as a whole, it is time for real action on making our roads safer for cyclists.

The Inside Croydon blog reports that - as discovered from figures that Caroline Pidgeon forced Transport for London to publish - seven pedestrian crossings in the borough do not meet the minimum requirements for visually impaired people to be safe:

• Brighton Road at Old Lodge Lane fire station
• On the Purley Way at Epsom Road
• Brighton Road at Bartlett Street and Nottingham Road
• St James Road and Sydenham Road
• Whitehorse Road by St James Road and Spurgeons Bridge
• Purley Way at Foxley Lane and Pampisford Road

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport spokesperson, today welcomed the announcement by Transport Secretary Justine Greening MP that passengers on some lines serving commuters on a number of the busiest rail routes from south west London into Waterloo are set to benefit from extra carriages to ease overcrowding, and that one platform at the former Waterloo International Station is to be reopened for commuter services.

Commenting on the decision, Caroline Pidgeon said: