London-wide + Lambeth stories

TfL taken to task over Brixton works

Improvement works in Brixton town centre are causing chaos for commuters, according to Liberal Democrat GLA member, Caroline Pidgeon.

Ms Pidgeon met with senior officials from Transport for London (TfL) in Brixton on Monday at rush hour to see for themselves the mess left by contractors on the site.

In an hour-long briefing with local Liberal Democrat Councillors Ashley Lumsden and Roger Giess and Streatham's Parliamentary Spokesman, Chris Nicholson, officers were taken to task over ongoing traffic congestion, health and safety risks from misplaced barriers around the works, and piles of debris left in mounds near street lights and bus stops.

21 January 2009 - 11:55pm

An unfair bill for South Londoners

Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon has persuaded Boris Johnson to support the campaign to ensure that the massive costs of the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes are shared more fairly. At present the bill of over £4 million is falling on the council taxpayers of the London Boroughs of Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark.

Questioned by Caroline Pidgeon the Mayor accepted that the costs of the inquest were exceptional and that it was unfair that the costs of the inquest are being paid by just four London Boroughs.

9 January 2009 - 10:06pm

Mayor hits Freedom Pass holders with double whammy

Pensioners and eligible disabled people in London were today hit by a double whammy as the Mayor of London Boris Johnson revealed that not only would their 24-hour Freedom Pass not be able to be used on Network Rail trains before 9.30am, despite this being a key election promise, but that the London Boroughs face paying out millions of pounds to fund Mayor Boris Johnson's 24-hour commitment.

18 December 2008 - 9:03pm

London Liberal Youth mount campaign to save the Cross River Tram

Caroline was delighted to join members of the London Liberal Youth at LSE on Thursday 27th November to discuss the Cross River Tram and their campaign to try to persuade the Mayor of London to change his mind and keep the plans alive.

The team of students have produced leaflets and posters and are planning a number of events and different levels of lobbying to keep the pressure on the Mayor to save the tram.

“I was very impressed to meet such an enthusiastic and energetic student group, who strongly felt the tram would benefit the student community in London as well as the wider community, in many deprived areas.

1 December 2008 - 9:38pm

Action on Vauxhall taxi touting

Caroline recently held an action meeting at Vauxhall Cross with local Lib Dem Cllr Rob Banks and a representative from Viva Vauxhall Residents’ Association. Representatives from Transport for London (TfL), the police and the Public Carriage Office (PCO) attended to talk about the issue of taxi touting in the area and to come up with an action plan to try to tackle this nuisance and dangerous issue.

The following actions were agreed:

  • TfL will clarify police powers under the Road Traffic Act 1998 to seize motor vehicles being driven without valid insurance;
  • TfL will explore the options of changing the use of the taxi parking places on South Lambeth Place to accommodate Private Hire Vehicle (licensed mini-cabs) drop off and pick up;
  • PCO to advise on good practice in other areas such as in Kingston town centre to see if we can persuade Lambeth Council to adopt suitable solutions;
  • TfL to establish a problem solving group to tackle taxi touting in Vauxhall. Members to include the local police safer neighbourhoods team; PCO; Metropolitan Police Service cab enforcement unit; local resident representatives; local Private Hire operators.
10 November 2008 - 10:22pm

Mayor must seek private funding

Caroline Pidgeon AM, London Assembly Liberal Democrat lead on transport, commenting on Transport for London's Ten Year Business Plan, published today, said:

“It is staggering that schemes such as the Cross River Tram, the Croydon Tramlink Extension, East London Transit, Greenwich Waterfront Transit and plans for an Oxford street tram appear to have been scrapped with nothing in their place apart from, perhaps, a few more polluting diesel buses.

10 November 2008 - 10:16pm

Boris: “amazing ignorance on transport” – Caroline Pidgeon AM

Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrats’ transport spokesperson at the London Assembly, says the Mayor, also the chair of Transport for London, is clearly not fully clued up on the capital’s transport issues.

Caroline says: “Mayor Johnson floundered when asked key questions of fact on whether London transport will be ready for the 2012 Olympics.

“He was clueless about TfL’s £40 million cutback on the North London Line at Camden Road station which will mean only six trains an hour to Stratford instead of eight.

16 October 2008 - 11:37pm

How committed is Boris to the Cross River Tram? That's a good question...

Commenting on the Cross River Tram plans at the Liberal Democrats' autumn conference in Bournemouth, Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrat's transport spokesperson at the London Assembly, says:
"As to what Boris is going to do, that is a very good question. Boris has said he is interested in the Cross River Tram and we have that on record.

"Messages coming out of his office have been very mixed but we need to keep it in his transport strategy and we're lobbying very, very hard on that."

18 September 2008 - 10:24pm

Has Boris backed down on a promise?

Commenting on Mayor Johnson’s pledge to intervene on the issue of the possible closure of South West Trains’ ticket offices, Caroline Pidgeon AM, the transport spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat Group at the London Assembly, says: “I’m extremely disappointed to see Mayor Johnson hasn’t personally got involved in this matter when he quite clearly said he would.

“Getting his minions at TfL to do his work simply doesn’t have the same impact as if the Mayor of London gets involved. I want to see the Mayor sticking to his promises.”

18 September 2008 - 10:23pm

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