Passengers at risk of being ‘injured or killed’ due to overcrowding at London Bridge station, warns MP

Passengers at risk of being ‘injured or killed’ due to overcrowding at London Bridge station, warns MP

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assengers are at risk of getting “injured or killed” because of the overcrowding chaos at London Bridge station, a prominent MP warned the Government on Thursday.

Sir Bob Neill, Tory MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, said delays on Southeastern services – in the light of controversial timetable changes in December – and failures on Network Rail infrastructure were causing “chaos”.

It came after safety concerns were sparked for the second time in just over a month when hundreds of passengers were stranded on the concourse at London Bridge during the evening rush hour on Tuesday.

Speaking at transport questions in the Commons on Thursday, Sir Bob said: “At some point, someone will get injured or killed as a result of this.”

Labour MP Clive Efford, who represents Eltham, said one Southeastern train he was travelling on was so overcrowded that a woman passenger fainted.

But transport minister Huw Merriman said services were being improved and revealed Network Rail was asking Transport for London for advice on crowd control measures.

Sir Bob said the problems on Southeastern had been caused by timetable changes that resulted in the loss of direct services on the Hayes line into Charing Cross station, and the “cutback” in services on the North Kent line into Cannon Street.

As a result, “unsustainable numbers of people” were having to change trains at London Bridge.

“I have seen the chaos there,” he said. “I have actually stood outside the station because it had to be closed on occasions. It’s not safe, Minister. At some point, somebody will get injured or killed as a result of this.”

This is a breaking news story, updates to come