Face mask wearing 'isn't being enforced' on trains says host

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LBC radio host Tom Swarbrick has hit out at Sadiq Khan’s plans to criminalise the failure to wear a face mask on the Tube. Mr Swarbrick told LBC listeners that he has “never seen” staff enforcing mask-wearing on the London underground. He told the London Mayor to get Transport for London (TfL) staff to enforce the rule, rather than turning it over to the police.

Mr Swarbrick explained: “I’ve been on the tube since the mask orders came off.

“I’ve worn a mask just because it’s the underground, and there are loads of people on it.

“But nobody is enforcing it! I know it is a condition of carriage, so it is up to TfL rather than the police.

“I’ve never seen any fluorescent-jacketed wearing TfL members of staff enforce it.”

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He added: “If you are going to say it’s a condition of carriage, you have to monitor and enforce it.

“The poor bus drivers can’t do it. I can see why the London Mayor might want to bring in the police but there is an argument that he has the power to do that himself with the TfL workers already.”

Since the lockdown rules were eased on July 19, the requirement to wear a mask on the Tube has only been a ‘condition of carriage’ rather than a legal requirement.

This means TfL’s 400 enforcement officers can prevent passengers from boarding or can ask them to leave a bus, Tube or Overground train – but they have no power to impose fines.

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The Mayor wants to change that and has urged the Government to allow TfL to introduce a new bye-law requiring face coverings to be worn on the capital’s public transport network.

Speaking to BBC Newscast, Mr Khan said 86 percent of passengers have continued to follow the rules on mask-wearing.

He added: “We need people to be coming back to the West End. We want to encourage people to return to their offices.

“They are not going to do so if they don’t feel public transport is safe.”

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GB News host Dan Wootton also criticised the plans, telling his viewers: “The country’s virtue signaller in chief – London’s failed mayor Sadiq Khan – is today demanding the government give him the power to make not wearing a mask on public transport illegal.

“Khan wants to follow the lead of Democrats in the US where mask use is a sign that you just must be a good person.

“That’s why I’m regularly treated to the ludicrous sight of woke folk wearing masks while driving in the car alone or on a run outside.

“Sadiq Khan is now using masks to try and stoke division. We are meant to live in a free society.

“That’s why women are allowed to walk around in burkas or bikinis, depending on their personal beliefs. The same must go for masks.”

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