Boris Johnson slammed as nine underground ticket offices set to close across Islington

Jenette Arnold, London Assembly member (Image: Archant)

Details of the scheme emerged last week and show nine ticket offices in the borough will close from March, along with hundreds of staff cuts. But Jennette Arnold, London Assembly Member for Islington, Hackney and Waltham Forest, says the announcement means Mr Johnson has broken a pre-election promise.

She said; “More people than ever are using the tube network yet Boris Johnson’s cuts will mean hundreds fewer staff there to help passengers. This fight isn’t about whether staff are based in ticket offices or on platforms, it’s about whether there are enough staff overall to provide customers with a good service, particularly the elderly and disabled and, also, tourists and visitors to London. Before he was elected Boris Johnson promised voters that he would not close any of the capital’s ticket offices, now he is set to axe them all.”

George Durack, chair of Islington Pensioners Forum, said: “These closures are a great disfavour to older people. You need staff at Tube stations to assist, to help you if things go wrong. What if an older person were to collapse? It will put people off getting the Tube, but in this weather one of the worst things is standing around waiting for a bus.”

The stations set to lose their tickets offices next year are Highbury and Islington, Old Street, Tufnell Park, Holloway Road, Angel, Archway, Arsenal, Caledonian Road and Farringdon. A spokesman for Mr Johnson, said: “What customers want and rightly expect from stations has changed radically in the last few years. These changes will deliver more services in stations for customers, not fewer, and will lead to a safer and more easily accessible environment. Any claims to the contrary are politically motivated scaremongering.”