Caroline Pidgeon

Caroline Pidgeon joined Lib Dem Parliamentary Campaigner for Hampstead and Kilburn, Ed Fordham, and talked to local people about the impact to them of planned closures on the Northern, Metropolitan and Jubilee lines. Watch the videos here...

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, commenting on the Mayor’s statement on BBC’s Question Time that he has no plans to build an airport in the Thames Estuary:

“No attempt at spinning by the Mayor’s office can explain away the totally contradictory statements that the Mayor has made over the Thames Estuary Airport in the last 18 months.

“The Mayor must now listen to the incredible coalition of people who are opposed to the proposed airport and finally end the sorry saga of this pie in the sky idea.”

Incorrect zone signs at Vauxhall train station will now be changed by South West Trains, following intervention by Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson and Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee.

After being contacted by a local resident Caroline contacted South West Trains to inform them that despite Vauxhall station being a Zone 1 / 2 station the new signs at the station were stating that the station is exclusively a Zone 1 station.

Explaining why correct signage is important Caroline said:
“Vauxhall train station is a Zone 1 / 2 station which means passengers travelling from the outer zones into central London can often pay a lower fare if they change from rail to the tube at Vauxhall, instead of travelling through to Waterloo.

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, commenting on the opposition from the world’s leading airlines to Boris Johnson’s plans for a Thames Estuary Airport, said:

“This must be the final nail in the coffin of Boris Johnson’s ridiculous proposals for an airport in the Thames Estuary.

“Boris Johnson has managed to create the most incredible coalition opposed to this airport stretching from David Cameron and the world's leading airlines right through to all the political parties in Kent and environmental groups such as the RSPB.

“It is time that he listened to the voices of all sensible people on this issue and just admitted once and for all that the Thames Estuary Airport is dead in the water.”

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.