Protest planned in London Underground safety row

Luke Jacobs Friday, February 22, 2013
8:09 AM

Tube drivers will stage a demonstration this morning in a dispute with London Underground over safety on the Bakerloo Line.

The workers, members of the RMT union, will campaign outside Queens Park station to demand talks to halt the ongoing row over train checking.

The union claims its drivers have been forced to check if carriages are empty of passengers before they move into sidings, after it said London Underground stopped station staff from doing so.

It comes after a 12-year-old was spotted walking on a Bakerloo line rail track after his train terminated at Queen’s Park.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “The Bakerloo Line drivers dispute is still rock solid five weeks on and if the company thought we would be winding operations down then they need to wake up to reality.

“It is bad enough that LUL seems happy with 3,000 overcarries on the Bakerloo in the last year compared with just 94 on nine other lines put together.”