Tube strike hits London Underground for second time in a week

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The finger has been pointed at rail bosses for cutting costs and causing hundreds of people to be caught in a brutal crush in London Bridge station. Photos showed the station crammed full of commuters, with reports emerging of fights breaking out and people suffering some panic attacks in the surging crowds – and commuters have suggested that Southeastern rail scrapping three key commuter services is the cause of the rush-hour chaos.

Wednesday evening saw hundreds trapped in the station as many complained of a “total lack of information”.

The managing director of Southeastern Railway said that the disruption was due to a trespasser – but commuters have argued otherwise. 

Direct trains on the line between Hayes and London Cannon Street, and from London Charing Cross to both Woolwich and Maidstone East, have been axed to create “more reliable” services and save £10million, meaning people heading to these destinations must now change at London Bridge.

Lewis Richards, 37, an IT manager from Catford, told The Telegraph: “In all honesty, it was scary last night. I was at the top of the escalator with nowhere else to go and people were bumping into the back of me.

“Southeastern has basically reduced services and cut routes, so more people were forced to go to London Bridge. You’ve got thousands more people turning up at London Bridge to catch their train. It’s been utter carnage. All to save money, but it’s made service worse. It’s dangerous, a disaster will happen. It’s not if, it’s when.”

Chris Meekings, 48, an insurance broker from Sidcup, who was also caught in yesterday’s crush, added to the outlet: “Last night was terrible. We were all kettled in at one point, platforms dangerously packed, only a matter of time until a fatality occurs.”

Commuter Jimmy Court, who was travelling from Cannon Street to Hayes, Kent said: “You can see it looks like it was in the thousands. It was quite concerning and dangerous. Staff seemed to not know what to do and more and more people seemed to be joining the crowd from the new connecting services.”

He added the “mess” seemed to be due to the timetable changes that have led to Canon Street passengers having to change at London Bridge.

Louie French, the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, said he was “very concerned by the overcrowding”.

While he did not directly blame the timetable, he added: “The ongoing misery and disruption for commuters cannot continue.”

Posting on Twitter, Southeastern managing director Steve Wight said: “This is the second time that crowd control has been required at London Bridge recently. The last occasion was when a points failure caused disruption.

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“Tonight’s disruption was due to an emergency call stopping all trains due to a trespasser. A review will be held tomorrow.”

A spokesperson for Southeastern later repeated that a trespasser was to blame for the disruption, saying: “The trespasser has now been apprehended, power has been restored to all lines by Network Rail and normal services have resumed. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers due to this incident.”

Southeastern said its timetable was altered in response to “substantial changes in customer demand for rail travel”, with people commuting only 1.8 days per week in a recent survey.

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