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On March 3, London Mayor Sadiq Khan appeared on Good Morning Britain and stated about the coronavirus: “There is no risk using the tube or buses or other forms of public transport.”
At that time, Britain had not suffered death from the disease, but we had seen more than 30 reported cases, and we had also seen what killing had already caused in many other countries.
So COVID-19, the most dangerous public health threat in 100 years, was here and it was wreaking havoc.
However, the mayor of our largest and most densely populated city exuded the supreme confidence that there was nothing to worry about.
I was incredulous
On March 3, London Mayor Sadiq Khan appeared on Good Morning Britain and stated about the coronavirus: “There is no risk using the tube or buses or other forms of public transport.”
How do you know that, Mr. Mayor? I answered. ‘They are not disrespectful, but how can it be said that in a city of 12 million people there is no risk given that we now know that it is here and is beginning to spread here and we know that in other countries the spread has been fierce, places like Italy and Iran. How can you say that, as the Mayor of London, there is no risk for people using public transport?
“Because I trust the advice I get from Public Health England and the Medical Director,” he replied, “and the advice is that you won’t get caught if you wash your hands regularly and use public transportation, there are five million on the Tube every day. trips, six million trips on our buses. The evidence we have so far is that it can be contained.
None of this made sense.
“You seem remarkably relaxed because a large number of people are very close to a large number of other people,” I insisted, “when large football matches have now been canceled in Italy … and when the evidence from other places is that once this it happened starts in one country, it moves very fast. “
“Because it is really important that we follow the advice they give us,” he replied, almost like a parrot, passing the money again, as our Government has done throughout this crisis, to the scientific and medical experts.
“We have had no fatalities in our country,” Khan explained, and I would tell GMB viewers to trust our experts. “
Commuters board a Jubilee line train this morning at Canning Town Station in East London
Then I asked him if he was shaking hands with people, given the day before Health Secretary Matt Hancock had said he was fine, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson had proudly boasted of doing so.
“I’m not,” replied Khan.
Than?
My disbelief returned.
“ You say there is no risk to people using public transport in confined areas around many people, ” I said, “ however here you are, the mayor of London, saying that you are no longer shaking hands. people because you have seen that there is a risk?
“The advice is that it is perfectly safe to use the subway and public transport,” replied the parrot from the mayor’s office.
He was wrong.
Or as I would certainly say, like all good passers-by, the experts I trusted were wrong.
Today, just ten weeks later, the official UK death toll from coronavirus stands at over 33,000 and this is just what the government admits: the actual number of coronavirus related deaths, based on excess recorded deaths, now it is estimated at more than 60,000.
Passengers in a packed wagon of a Central Line train on the London Underground today
Of the official figure, 5,697 deaths occurred in London, which has been the dark epicenter of the crisis.
And yesterday, Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps revealed that 42 Transport for London workers have died from the virus.
This total includes at least 28 bus drivers and a woman who collects tickets and was spat on at Victoria Station by a man who claims to be COVID positive.
So it turns out that there was a very serious and deadly risk to using public transport, and not just for the outrageously unprotected workers.
Many travelers will have been infected in tubes and buses before and after March 3, and many of those who were infected unfortunately died.
Inevitably, these will have included NHS heroes and social workers, nearly 300 of whom have lost their lives, who depend on public transportation to get to work.
However, their mayor had assured them that there was no risk of contracting coronavirus.
On April 8, Mayor Khan reappeared on Good Morning Britain, after it was learned that nine bus drivers had died and that we had just conducted a heartbreaking interview with the widow of one of them demanding to know why he had not been protected. adequately.
Once again, Khan, whose own father was a bus driver, hid behind the “experts”, alleging that Public Health England had advised that PPE only be used in care settings. “His advice, and I have to follow it, is pretty clear,” he said, “transportation workers shouldn’t use PPE.”
I exploited Where does common sense come from? All I hear are politicians hiding behind experts. If nine bus drivers in London died from the coronavirus because they don’t have the proper personal protective equipment, if I were mayor of London, I would make sure they got it and I wouldn’t get any advice from anyone else, I’d be trusting my instincts. These people need better protection, they are dying. ‘
Mayor Khan continued to ‘listen to the experts’, bus drivers continued to have inadequate PPE, and as a result, the number of them who died has tripled.
This is all utter disgrace and surprising negligence on the part of the mayor.
Like the ridiculous scenes we’ve seen on public transportation this week after Boris Johnson released his ‘STAY HOME’ message to beat the virus and urged millions of nonessential workers to return to work, despite still There is no vaccine or therapeutic medication to beat COVID-19.
Leaving aside the recklessness of this movement, which I fear is the same mistake made in 1918 when the world tried to return to normal too soon after the first wave of the Spanish flu only to make the second wave massively more devastating, he obviously demanded. London’s mayor faces the challenge of ensuring that there are enough buses and trains for people to use while maintaining social detachment, and enough transport police to enforce.
Busy pavements around London Bridge station this morning as people head to work
Instead, we have seen travelers riding like sardines in tubes and piling up on buses like lemmings that launch together off a cliff.
No one maintains social distancing and no one tries to do so.
Then the virus will cause riots again, infections will increase and so will deaths.
This, again, is a disgrace.
Why has it been so chaotic?
Because Mayor Khan reduced the amount of services, as he has during the crisis.
And it has refused to restore them to the required capacity unless the government accepts a £ 2 billion emergency bailout for TFL today.
So he’s been deliberately risking more lives while trying to blackmail Boris Johnson.
Khan insists that he is doing so because he is concerned about the health of transport workers and passengers.
“It is deeply disturbing,” he told LBC, “the reality is that every time someone interacts with someone on the street, in a store, or on a train, the spread can increase. So we are urging people to stay home. ‘
Commuters on a Jubilee line train on the London Underground this morning
Oh the irony.
Did Mayor Khan finally resolve that blatantly bloody fact for himself, or did he have to wait for the ‘experts’ to tell him?
As always, he is blaming everyone but himself for the ongoing catastrophe on London’s public transport.
Khan said the government lost six weeks when the virus broke out.
“We should have planned better and made better decisions and been at the forefront,” he said. “Instead of responding to things that are happening.”
Yes, Mayor Khan, YOU should.
On Tuesday, the man who assured us all that there was no coronavirus “risk” if he used public transportation tweeted, “I can’t stress how important it is to avoid public transportation as much as possible.”
What an amazing and amazing lack of self-awareness.
The Internet keeps receipts, Mayor Khan, and so do TV shows like GMB.
The reason people were still using public transport when the virus first broke out in London is because YOU told them there was no risk.
The reason people have been risking their lives without social distancing on public transportation this week is because YOU cut services.
The reason this is so important is that if YOU cannot protect travelers and companies cannot make their staff work safely then there will be a stampede to work for home London will lose its middle class and its tax base and quickly became an empty financial wasteland.
And the reason the mayor’s sudden deep concern for people’s health affects me so much is because many have died unnecessarily as a result of their abject complacency and inability to adequately protect them.
I cannot emphasize how much disaster Mayor Khan has had during this crisis.
And you didn’t need an expert to tell me.
