Sunday, February 05, 2012

What a load of tosh!

The Transport for London Press Office has just put out a press release saying how well TfL coped with last night's snow.

I have copied the text at the foot of this note for posterity.
  • Please note that late yesterday evening. the Central and Jubilee lines were totally suspended.
  • Thousands of of people struggled to get home from an Olly Murs concert at the O2 Arena last night. Roads in the area were log- jammed and, as I say, there was no Jubilee Line.
  • A Chiltern Railways train was stuck behind a Metropolitan Line train for over an hour, I think out in the Chorleywood area. The Metropolitan Line was stated as being suspended North of Wembley Park, late in the evening.
  • Annie Mole has captured the status of the London Underground as a whole, as at 11.30 pm yesterday evening. It was not good.

Personally I think that a piece of PR puff should include an acknowledgment of what real people actually experienced, rather than just stressing the the things that didn't break. If you read TfL's version of the truth, one might gain the impression that everything went swimmingly well with transport in London last night. Hmmmm.


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TfL works to keep London moving through snow
05 February 2012

Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport, said:
  • "We have worked tirelessly from Saturday afternoon and throughout the night, gritting the Capital's main roads every few hours and running de-icing trains along the London Underground network"
  • "Around 2,000 tonnes of grit has been spread by TfL and boroughs and all main roads and the vast majority of local roads are open and traffic running smoothly."
  • "Bus routes are all operating this morning and there were only a few curtailments on night bus routes overnight."
  • "Tube services have started well this morning, but with some issues on the outer reaches of the Central and Jubilee lines. We are woking hard to get these sections running as soon as possible."
  • "So London is open for business today, but clearly people should take care on the roads and allow plenty of time for their journeys."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As one who was turned off two Met line trains at Finchley Road last night, it was very clear that there were huge problems. As usual a complete lack of information about other interlinking services (bus numbers etc) that might be of use. Thank goodness for the 757 Coach, driven perfectly, that got us out to Bricket Wood in the wee small hours.

Anonymous said...

I was on the train that broke down outside South Woodford and had to walk along the track to the platform for 15 mins. No salt on the platforms. There were elderly people etc. Plus we had to touch out to pay for the lovely experience we just endured. Was barely any staff in the station. Then as there were NO buses heading to where I lived, and cabs swamped on snow thick roads, I had to walk the 6 miles home to Loughton! Thanks TFL