NHS workers on coronavirus front line beg Sadiq Khan to put on more Tube trains as some carriages still packed – The Sun

NHS staff have complained some carriages on the London Underground were still packed this morning during the coronavirus lockdown.

Health workers reported overcrowded Underground trains as Transport for London admitted it was only running at 50 per cent of its peak-time capacity owing to staff shortages.

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Lowri, a nurse in the paediatric intensive care unit, tweeted a photo of Londoners squeezed together on the Central Line.

She said: "Full central line again today! Transport for London and Sadiq Khan please keep us safe!

"Maybe more frequent trains when NHS staff are due to start shifts? #notsafe #notprotected #nhsnurse #picunurse"

Denise Bennett, whose daughter works as a nurse, tweeted: "Message from daughter, going to work as a nurse in London – 'tube station is rammed'. How can she stay safe and keep her patients safe when she has to travel to work like this?"

Another wrote: "Getting my trains in to work today. Still loads of construction workers around on the West end of the Central line. People still aren't getting the message!"

However some workers claimed the Tube was quieter this morning – suggesting more are heeding the government's advice to stay home.

TUBE ROW

Yesterday Boris Johnson turned his fire on Mr Khan and held him responsible for the dangerous congestion on morning tube trains in the capital.

Pledging to give the mayor "every support" the PM said: "My own view is that we should be able to run a better Tube system at the moment, we should be able to get more Tubes on the line."

However the London mayor blamed the PM for allowing constructions sites to stay open for the overcrowding.

Mr Johnson told MPs yesterday: "What we're not doing in closing down the whole of the UK economy."

Construction workers told to continue going on-site have said they are being forced to choose between putting their families at risk of coronavirus or having no income.

Mr Khan said: "Construction workers are still going to work and using public transport. You can't keep a safe distance on sites so the virus will spread and more people will die. I've repeatedly asked ministers to ban non-essential work. We need action today."

He added that it was impossible to run a more frequent service because about a third of London Underground staff were off sick or self-isolating.

Mr Khan said early-morning Tube use on Thursday was down 13 per cent on the previous day, while bus use was down 8 per cent over the same period.

"Thank you to all Londoners who are following the rules and staying home," the mayor tweeted.

"The more we stay at home the more lives we can save."

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Tube bosses have tried to shame passengers into staying at home by asking who travelled this week: "Was it really necessary?"

Vernon Everitt, managing director of Transport for London, personally emailed every customer who had made a trip on the London Underground since Monday.

He also revealed the busiest parts of the network have been in East London, which is home to a large number of low-paid workers.

Transport chiefs in London are able to track customers through their use of credit, debit and Oyster travel cards.

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