Ken calls for Croydon tram firm to resign

2:48pm Tuesday 23rd January 2007

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London mayor Ken Livingstone has called for the team responsible for Croydon's trams to resign over safety concerns.

Mr Livingstone told his weekly press conference today (Tuesday) Tramtrack had been given two of the only three poor service warnings issued by tram inspectors in the UK.

The mayor said that on October 2 last year Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate (HMRI) served Tramtrack with two notices to improve its services. Inspectors found it was in breach of two health and safety laws.

"There have only ever been three improvement notices issued in total to modern tramways in the UK," Mr Livingstone said, "The fact that Tramtrack has got two of these notices clearly shows the company is not fit to run a public transport system.

"This leaves me no choice but to call for the directors of Tramtrack Croydon to resign and for the company to sack its entire management team."

Mr Livingstone's attack comes weeks after he announced more buses were to be drafted into Croydon to meet passenger demand created by Tramtrack's decision to cut some services in New Addington.

A Tramtrack spokesman said they were "in the process of doing the work" requested by the HMRI: "They are not matters that we would regard as high order safety issues but it would bring us in line with national standards. We believe we did inform TfL of the service notices but we don't believe we were required to by contract."