Latest news Archive

An elderly man was left fearing he was having a heart attack after the bus he was travelling on careered into two gardens before colliding with a tree in Kingston.

Neighbours in Aragon Road rushed to the aid of 68-year-old Graham Power and his wife after the driver of the K5 bus seemed to lose control of the vehicle while speaking on her internal radio.

19:12, 28 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees

Tube workers will walk out on a three-day strike next Sunday over concerns about safety on the Underground.

Services will stop at 6.30pm on Sunday, April 6, after members of the RMT and TSSA unions voted in favour of strike action in protest at reduced staffing levels.

14:53, 28 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees

A union representing South West Trains' (SWT) drivers has threatened strike action in a dispute over pay.

The rail operator, one of the country's biggest, runs services through much of south-west London including London Waterloo and Clapham Junction.

Train drivers' union Aslef has threatened to stage a four-day strike from March 31 to April 3 if pay talks fail.

11:01, 20 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees

Control of Croydon's tram system is to be handed to Transport for London (TfL) in a £98million deal.

TfL announced today its offer to acquire Tramtrack Croydon Ltd, which runs Tramlink, had been accepted. Taking control of the company means TfL will no longer have to make compensation payments for changes to fare and ticketing policy which last year amounted to £4million.

21:09, 17 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees
Traders and motorists are angry at plans to extend the operating hours of a bus lane in an already traffic clogged route in Kingston.

Kingston council and Transport For London (TFL) plan to extend the times the bus lane in Richmond Road between Acre Road and Cowleaze Road from 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday to ease congestion.
13:38, 12 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees

Britain’s road network is growing 15 times faster than the rail network, according to official figures which undermine the Government’s claim that it is helping people to switch from cars to trains.

On the eve of what ministers are hailing as their “green Budget”, statistics seen by The Times show that more than 405 miles of motorway and trunk road have opened since 1997 compared with just 27 miles of railway.

In five of the past eleven years, no track was added to the domestic rail network, and in the peak years for rail growth, in 2001 and 2002, the network grew by only six miles a year.

13:27, 11 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees

Ken Livingstone plans to take over Croydon tramlink and extend it to Crystal Palace, according to his transport manifesto released today.

If reelected in May, Mr Livingstone also plans to allow pensioners and the disabled to travel free on public transport 24 hours a day, put 500 hybrid buses on the road by 2010 and introduce the £25 CO2 charge for gas guzzlers driving into central London.

18:05, 10 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees
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Travelers trying to get away over Easter are well advised to avoid Clapham Junction, with major track work closing the line to Wimbledon. Network Rail have scheduled £3million of work over the four-day long weekend, including replacing mainline tracks.

South West Trains' Nick Dorey said the lines between from Clapham to Waterloo and Wimbledon will be closed while engineers work round the clock.

15:38, 08 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees

Bus drivers are pushing for a pay rise and fewer working hours in their first city-wide demands since privatisation. The Unite union said wages varied from £20,000 to £28,000 from company to company. Regional industrial organiser Peter Kavanagh said drivers wanted a pay rise to at least £30,000 and maximum driving shifts of 10 hours a day.

12:02, 04 Mar 2008 by Matthew Rees