The Mayor of London has hailed TfL workers as the “real heroes” despite controversy around overcrowding of underground tubes as a result of reduced services.
As Asian Voice went to press on Tuesday, Sadiq Khan said to the newsweekly,
“The good news is that there is a 95% reduction in use in tubes and an 85% similar reduction in usage of bus services. And now, there is a drastic reduction in congestion in the tubes. These services now continue to run only for critical key frontline workers who cannot work from home and rely on public transport to commute.
“This is why in my view, our transport workers are our real heroes for continuing to serve the TfL even though there is a 30% reduction in absences of other staff because of self-isolation or those suffering from coronavirus themselves.”
A joint report launched only a day earlier by watchdogs Transport Focus and London Travel Watch said that a cut in frequent services was indeed to blame for the overcrowding and therefore, lack of social distancing. However, transport workers at Underground Tubes are not the only ones suffering from the domino effects of coronavirus. Uber drivers and other immigrant contract workers are also facing the fears of being evicted from their rental lodgings and starving to death even as Oxford University team hopes to have a vaccine available for use by the autumn this year. This does not buy enough time for contractual workers receiving immediate eviction notices. The Mayor said,
“I have been lobbying the government on behalf of a third of Londoners who rent privately from the landlords for increased protection and that they should not be left with large debts when the pandemic is contained.”
The government last month announced a “complete ban” on evictions for both social and private renters for three months in the wake of coronavirus. However, this has not stopped many from asking their tenants to leave on the grounds of fear of contagion.
