The closure of Caledonian Road Station has been delayed by two months, it was announced this afternoon.

Originally, Transport for London (TfL) was going to close the Underground station from January 4 until mid-August for its two lifts to be refurbished.

The repair work will now take place between March 14 until the end of October. However, the station will still be entirely closed throughout the works.

Two separate petitions, with almost 8,000 signatures, had called for TfL to repair the lifts one at a time. This would allow the station to remain open.

And Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington’s executive member for environment and transport, said the delay was evidence TfL have not “thought through” its plans.

She added: “We will use this extended period to continue to call for the station to be kept open whilst improvements are conducted.

“TfL has already admitted that the replacement of the lifts could be done one at a time, meaning the station could remain open. With a team of lift engineers on site during the works, any issues with the operational lift would easily be resolved.

“I am pleased that we now have more time to make TfL see sense. I urge them to keep the station open and not to inconvenience thousands of residents and damage local businesses.”

Gareth Powell, director of strategy for London Underground, said: “We always keep our plans under review to see if we can improve them.

“In this instance, we’re able to act on the concerns of our customers and move the closure date of Caledonian Road to later in the year.

“When the works are complete everyone will benefit from a new, more reliable service.”