UK Edition
London's Tube and transport network could be massively scaled back, says Sadiq Khan
Mayor says capital's network may go to Saturday or Sunday service during week and could be cut back even more
London's transport network could be massively scaled back in the coming weeks, the capital's Mayor, Sadiq Khan, said after Boris Johnson placed the UK in lockdown and urged the public to stop all non-essential contact.
"What we may do over the course of the next few days is go to a Saturday or Sunday service during the week and then maybe even scale that down even more over the course of the next few days and weeks," Mr Khan said.
But he added that a "basic public transport service" was needed for frontline workers including medics, firefighters and police officers.
The mayor also added his voice to pleas for clarity over Government advice warning people to avoid pubs, clubs and theatres in a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus, saying the UK should be following measures being enacted in countries such as France.
He told Good Morning Britain: "What the Government has got to do is one of two things – either clarify and confirm it's a ban so these businesses can claim for insurance or make sure these businesses are given some help, whether that's cashflow issues, help with rates, with rent, with charges.
"What the Government should be doing now are the things that Macron's doing, the things that Trudeau is doing, the things that Merkel is doing – now."
Pub and restaurant owners are calling for immediate action to support the industry financially after the Prime Minister advised people not to go out but stopped short of ordering entertainment venues to close.
They say the hospitality industry could effectively be condemned to death without urgent state help to get it through the coronavirus pandemic.
The British Beer and Pub Association has written to Mr Johnson to demand that urgent steps are taken to prevent mass job losses and permanent pub closures.
Meanwhile, Mr Khan said advice on school closures could also change, with the Government under pressure to urgently rethink its strategy.
"The advice is that it makes very little clinical difference in relation to closing schools, but that advice may change in relation to what we do know, which is some teachers may be pregnant, others may have underlying health issues, a child may have a persistent cough or temperature which means mum, dad, carer decides to withdraw the child," he said.
"I wouldn't be surprised if, over the course of the two weeks before Easter, Government advice changes."