‘Transport for London should have the Tube running in full’ – Hancock

More London Underground trains should be running to avoid overcrowding and slow the spread of the coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Concerns have been raised that carriages remain packed despite orders for only key workers to use public transport.

Mr Hancock said: “When it comes to the Tube, the first and the best answer is that Transport for London (TfL) should have the Tube running in full so that people travelling on the Tube are spaced out and can be further apart – obeying the two-metre rule wherever possible.

“And there is no good reason in the information that I’ve seen that the current levels of Tube provision should be as low as they are. We should have more tube Trains running.”

When TfL reduced Tube frequencies last week amid a drop in demand, it stated that this was “to ensure a safe and reliable service”.

On Tuesday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who chairs TfL, said “growing numbers” of Tube staff are off sick or self-isolating, which means “we cannot run more services than we currently are”.

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