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Among the demonstrators at Finsbury Park Tube on Monday, from left, Labour councillor Richard Greening, Angela Dobson, Cllr Jennette Arnold, Faryal Velmi and Labour councillor Phil Kelly |
MP lashes Mayor Johnson on step-free Tube access U-turn
Boris pulls funding from Finsbury Park while making Green Park a priority
MP Jeremy Corbyn denounced London Mayor Boris Johnson this week for withdrawing urgent funding for Finsbury Park Tube station while making Green Park – home to London’s poshest hotels like the Hilton and Dorchester – a top priority.
Speaking at a demonstration outside Finsbury Park station on Monday night, Mr Corbyn accused Mayor Johnson of preferring up-market central London to down-at-heel Finsbury Park.
Transport for London (TfL) have announced that instead of spending money building a step-free entrance to Finsbury Park Tube they will build one at Green Park Tube station.
Mr Corbyn said: “I’m very suspicious. Could it be connected with all the Olympic big-wigs who will be staying in hotels on Park Lane who might just use Green Park station? Or am I being too cynical?”
He joined dozens of demonstrators – including disabled people in wheelchairs and parents with prams – protesting over lack of access to Finsbury Park Tube.
The protest was organised by deputy chairwoman of the London Assembly, Islington’s Labour representative Jennette Arnold. The Lib Dem’s prospective candidate for Islington North, Mildmay councillor Rhodri Jamieson-Ball, also attended.
Ms Arnold accused Mayor Johnson of being “detached from reality”.
She added: “When I asked him about the planned 20 per cent increase in bus fares he replied it was a small increase. Here’s a man who earns about a quarter of a million pounds just for sitting down for half an hour and writing his column for the Telegraph.”
As reported in the Islington Tribune in August, Network Rail are to build a £6million lift for disabled people and those with prams at Finsbury Park, starting next month. The lift will go from the station’s mainline platform to street level.
However, the original plan for the lift to have continued down to connect with the Victoria and Piccadilly lines has been cancelled after TfL, who would have shared the costs, pulled out.
Wheelchair user and voluntary worker Angela Dobson, 60, from Caledonian Road, who has cerebral palsy, said that lack of access was not just a problem at Finsbury Park. “We don’t have access to many Tube stations,” she said. “But we had hoped that Finsbury Park would have lead the way.
“I’d love to travel on the Underground; currently it’s impossible.”
Faryal Velmi is director of Transport for All, an organisation for disabled people based in Brixton, who are working with Islington groups Disability Action, and Disability Network, to campaign for step-free access. She said: “Disabled people have a right to travel on the Tube just like everyone else.
“There has been talk about making the London Olympic Games the most accessible ever. Mayor Johnson should make a start by making Finsbury Park Tube step free.”
Lib Dem Cllr Jamieson-Ball said lack of step-free access was “horrendous” in this day and age. “Step-free is not just good for people in wheelchairs. It helps people with buggies and young children and those with luggage.”
John Thomas, who is registered blind and lives off Upper Street at the Angel, said his problem was trying to navigate around stations like Finsbury Park.
“I’d like there to be more station staff around to help. They can also use simple tactile flooring, which would help blind people like me to find their way.” |
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