Caroline's news

Caroline went on the new high speed train from St Pancras to Stratford International Station to see how the transport infrastructure has been completed ahead of time for the 2012 Games.

Caroline joined other Assembly members, the mayor and other officials to experience the fast train journey which will shuttle thousands of spectators when the games come to London next year.

The trip then went on the new DLR extension from Stratford International to the main Stratford station. This is due to open in July according to TfL after further test.

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Mayor welcoming the latest crime figures for London’s transport network, said:

“The Mayor should not be complacent with these latest figures. Across the whole of London’s transport network there has been no uniform fall in crime – indeed in some areas levels have increased, and in some cases by a significant degree.

The Mayorwatch website reports on Boris Johnson's misleading claims in his election literature that bus crime has fallen by 30% across London during his term in office. In fact, the detailed statistics show that the local picture is patchy, with bus crime actually increasing in many areas.

Caroline told Mayorwatch:

Just three months ago the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority warned Boris Johnson that the way he was using the bus crime data could ‘be damaging to public trust in the statistics’.

Sadly the Mayor has totally ignored this warning and is up to his old tricks of using misleading figures. It is simply wrong to suggest that bus crime is falling across the whole of London, when in fact in more than one third of boroughs it is increasing – and in some boroughs significantly.

Even where there has been some fall in the figures there should be no grounds for complacency about the level of crime on London’s buses. Bus crime is a problem everywhere, and in far too many places it is a growing problem.

You can read the full article here.

You can also read local coverage in the Barking and Dagenham Post, in the East London Advertiser (Tower Hamlers), the Wimbledon Guardian and at the Wimbledon SW19 website.

The Evening Standard reports on accusations by motorists' groups that Transport for London is using fines for violating yellow box junction rules as a means of revenue raising rather than a genuine traffic control measure.

Caroline told the Standard:

TfL has clearly been ratcheting up its enforcement of yellow boxes. If it believes its actions improve the flow of traffic it needs to start providing evidence of this.

Until then the accusation that it is primarily using the yellow boxes as a cash cow will certainly resonate with motorists across London.

You can read the full article here.

Also, in a followup, the revelation that over £1m in fines were charged at a single box junction in Highgate last year has been covered in the Evening Standard and on the Highate People website.

Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Lib Dems from across London out in Canons Ward in Harrow on Bank Holiday Monday. Joined by London Assembly candidates Marisha Ray and Shas Sheehan, as well as well known blogger Mark Pack, the team joined local Harrow members Laurence, John and Cllr Chris Noyce talking to residents in the area.

Darren Diamond is standing for the Lib Dems in the by-election and would make a really good councillor given his 12 years service at Stanburn School as a governor and his youth work with the scouts for nearly 20 years.

“It was good to go out and talk to local people about the real concerns including the terrible upgrade of the Jubilee line and the problem with disabled access at Stanmore station,” commented Caroline.