When will Khan get a grip of Wimbledon Tube chaos? Tennis chiefs to hold crisis meeting over travel madness
Wimbledon chiefs are set to hold crisis talks with Transport for London after chaos on the Tube affected the Championships for the second week.
Thousands of fans were held up by ‘severe delays’ on Monday with no service on the District Line between Parsons Green and Wimbledon.
Many arrived at SW19 complaining their journeys had taken as long as three hours after being forced to catch buses, pay for taxis or even walk to SW19.
‘It took me over two and a half hours, I had to get a bus from Earl’s Court but it was gridlock in Putney so I just got off and walked the remaining mile,’ one worker at the grounds said.
It comes after a ‘challenging’ first week at the tournament when a fire alert and signalling failures led to travel chaos causing many fans to miss matches.
The under-fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was ‘extremely frustrated’ by the latest disruption during the event which attracts more than 42,000 spectators every day.
Paul Kohler, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon, branded last week’s problems an ‘international embarrassment’ and called on Sir Sadiq to ‘get a grip’ of the chaos.
‘It’s appalling… This is the jewel in the crown of British sport. And we can’t get the infrastructure working to get people there and back,’ he added.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was ‘extremely frustrated’ by disruptions for passengers travelling to Wimbledon
Some fans complained that their journey had taken around three hours
Delays have affected tennis fans visitng Wimbledon for the second week of the tournament
Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, said the club was in constant talks with TfL bosses and had called a meeting to assess the service provided.
‘We have arranged to catch up with them after the championships to look at not just what happened this year but also to look ahead in terms of investment into the District Line,’ she added.
Susan Hall, leader of the Conservatives in City Hall, said: ‘What message about London does it send to tourists here to watch the tennis that not even the trains work?’
TfL apologised to ‘customers affected by the disruption on the District Line’ which it said was due to a ‘track fault at Putney Bridge’.
