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London’s transport network could be paralyzed when the UK eases the blockade measures after TfL laid off 7,000 employees, a crude report revealed today.
The briefing for emergency planners, seen by the BBC, warns that the Subway will “quickly overwhelm” if social distancing is maintained, and says the police would be under pressure if necessary to maintain crowd control.
The London transport system would take four weeks to prepare for the new challenges, according to the ‘blockade release’ briefing.
The London Strategic Coordination Group (SCG) document stated that the capacity of the underground and buses would be reduced to 15% and 12% respectively compared to normal levels, if a two-meter gap is applied between passengers.
Militant RMT union bosses presented another obstacle last week, saying there was “zero chance” that their workers would return without the proper PPE, as London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged Londoners to wear masks when traveling.
Britain is beginning to see a return to some normalcy as traffic returns to the country’s highways, but the government insists it does not want to lift the closure measures too early while the country still faces a ‘dangerous moment’ in coronavirus pandemic.
Today the Prime Minister is expected to brush off hopes of an end to the bull run until June, emphasizing that allowing the deadly disease to rage again would do even worse harm than operating in a small economy.
Masked passengers are seen crowding onto a platform at Canning Town underground station in London this morning
Key workers claim they are forced to take Packed Tubes daily and say construction workers using packed trains ‘outnumber NHS personnel’ (pictured: Canning Town this morning)
The revelation comes as:
- Ministers finally admit they will miss Matt Hancock’s 100,000-day trial target today, as NHS chiefs say the number is a ‘red herring’ and that doctors and caregivers are not yet being tested.
- Researchers analyzing nearly 17,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the UK found that 33 percent of patients died, 49 percent were discharged, and 17 percent still receive care.
- The International Labor Organization reported that some 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy are in “immediate danger” of losing their livelihoods.
- Surgeons warn thousands will die if Britain pulls out of shutdown now
More than two dozen transport workers have lost their lives in London after testing positive for coronavirus.
Angry commuters through the London Underground network continue to attack Mayor Sadiq Khan, as key workers claim they are forced to take packed tubes on a daily basis and say construction workers using full trains outnumber number to NHS staff.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously urged the British to stay home and not travel, but many who use Transport for London (TfL) services have claimed that busy tubes are now an everyday occurrence, despite the fact that people They have been asked to work from home whenever possible. .
On Monday, TfL placed 7,000 employees whose work has been reduced or paused as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on leave.
London’s mayor last week said he was “eating up cash reserves” to maintain capital services amid a big drop in fee revenues during the coronavirus blockade.
Khan, who was charged with “risking lives” after TfL cut services, forcing commuters to load full cars, applied for the grant to help shore up the struggling transportation network.
TfL will access funds from the government job retention scheme after subway travel fell 95 percent and bus use 85 percent since last month’s close (pictured: Canning Town this morning )
When asked how long TfL could continue, Khan told BBC London: “Probably later this month” (pictured: Passengers in Canning Town)
Some 7,000 employees whose work has been reduced or paused will be affected in the movement amid the enormous financial impact of the crisis.
TfL will access funds from the government job retention scheme after subway travel fell 95 percent and bus use 85 percent since last month’s close.
You can now get financing for 80 percent of the salary of unlicensed staff, who will be in the plan for at least three weeks, up to a maximum of £ 2,500 per month.
When asked how long TfL could continue, Khan told BBC London: “Probably later this month.”
He added: ‘What we cannot afford is to make the decision to cut more services because we cannot pay people. So it is really important.
The RMT said a survey of 10,000 transportation workers revealed “widespread failures” in the protection of personnel and passengers.
Two out of five respondents said that their employer has put business or profit priorities before safety, a third action described protecting them from Covid-19 as poor or terrible, and a similar number said they had not been issued PPE.
Most said they had not been tested for the virus, and four in 10 said they had no access to washing facilities.
Rush hour traffic on the M25 in Kent this morning, which is getting busier as some level of normality appears to be returning to the country
Traffic is seen building up early in the morning on the A40 Perivale in West London today. On Monday, TfL placed 7,000 employees whose work has been reduced or paused as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on leave.
Traffic builds up on the A102 in South East London from Greenwich today. The public has been told that they can only leave their homes when absolutely essential, in an attempt to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
The government released new data showing the number of deaths inside and outside hospitals for the first time, but the seven-day death toll is declining.
A spokesman for London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Loosening closure restrictions will certainly pose serious challenges in maintaining social distancing, particularly in London with our high population density and our public transport network.
“ Life will simply not go back to what it was before, and it is vital that the Government now have an open and honest conversation with the public about how we will all have to play our part in ensuring that we maintain adequate social distancing in all aspects of our daily lives.
“ Whether it’s schools, construction sites, or other industries that have to stagger their opening hours or restrictions on using public transportation, there are no off-the-table options.
“So it is essential that we are fully prepared as a country and city before the closure is eased, with a comprehensive package of measures to ensure the protection of people’s health.”
A spokesman for the London Strategic Coordination Group (SCG) said: ‘A series of documents are currently being prepared in London that will help plan the release of the blockade, when it occurs.
‘The mentioned document contains a series of planning scenarios based on current measures of social distancing to help planners prepare for the relaxation of current constraints.
“This should not be seen as what will happen, but it is important that emergency planners understand all the implications and impact that any change in closure measures could have on individual organizations and the general public.”
Drivers queue down the block for the ONLY open Burger King tour in the UK, as health chiefs warn of the ‘troubling’ rise in traffic to the highest since the shutdown began and Wetherspoon’s plans to reopen its bars ‘in June or around’.
Drivers queued in the block on the UK’s only Burger King open road after health chiefs warned ‘troubling’ data showed vehicle use was at its highest point since the blockade began .
Staff at the fast-food restaurant in Havant were seen wearing masks and gloves over their uniforms as they delivered burgers and fries to customers in Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon.
It occurs when England’s Director of Health Protection for Public Health (PHE) Yvonne Doyle said there were more motorists than on March 23, the day the blockade began.
She said at the Downing Street daily briefing that the numbers were “troubling” and urged people to leave their homes for “needs” amid fears that breaching the rules could trigger a second wave of coronavirus.
In addition to the risks presented by non-essential travel, PHE has warned that those who are severely overweight have an increased risk of serious illness from COVID-19. Traveling for high-calorie foods, therefore, exacerbates these health risks.
Mororists were photographed queuing around the block at the UK’s only Burger King open site in Havant today
In addition to Burger King, many other fast-food chains and pubs clamor to welcome customers, and Wetherspoons says its bars and hotels will reopen “in or around June.”
JD Wetherspoon said yesterday that he aims to raise £ 141 million as part of a stock placement scheme so that it can reopen when summer begins.
The company said it would increase the amount by issuing up to 15.7 million shares to 900 pence per share.
President Tim Martin was forced to close the 900 bars and leave 40,000 workers unemployed before Britain closed.
It was one of the last on High Street to close the store, and drinkers drank their final pints on March 20, just three days before the law imposed a closure.
But the deputy chief medical officer of the England Department of Public Health, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, seemed to dampen hopes that the pubs would reopen soon.
When asked about the reopening of pubs, beaches and garden centers, he said at the Downing Street press conference: “ At various different points they can involve the congregation of people and one must be very careful and careful in thinking about some of these before we make the wrong move to relax the measurements.
‘I think we have to be extremely safe and extremely careful about this.
‘This virus will absolutely come back … this will accompany us for quite some time, potentially until we receive a vaccine.
“So from that perspective, we have to be very careful and very safe and I’m not going to suggest for a moment that any of this is rushed.”
Burger King has said it is testing the reopening of the tour at the Hampshire site with the idea that more could be reopened in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, giant fast-food giant KFC has announced that it will reopen another 80 branches for delivery as Britain continues on the brink of closure.
The fried chicken chain said 100 of its stores across the country will be able to take orders to customers’ homes starting next Monday.
Meanwhile, DIY retailer Wickes has revealed that it will reopen six stores with strict social distancing measures in place starting tomorrow in Pudsey, Cheltenham, Preston, Sevenoaks, Cricklewood and Hailsham.
Telephone data has also suggested that the British are making more trips on the roads than a week ago.
Speaking at number 10, Doyle said the last government slide detailing transportation use was “troubling.”
“This is a transportation slide showing the use of various forms of transportation,” he said at the press conference.
‘As we have seen so far very dramatic drops in most modes, but there has been an increase in motor vehicles.
“The message here really is that we are still going through this peak and this motor vehicle use is the highest daily use since March 23rd and we really need to be vigilant that most people are struggling to stay home and save lifes”. And this is a little worrisome.
“So stay home, protect the NHS, save lives, and go out of need, and the transportation data will reflect that.”
Government closing rules state that people should only leave their home for one of four reasons: to get food supplies, medicine, exercise, or go to work if they cannot work from home.
There is increasing evidence to suggest that some Britons have had sufficient confinement restrictions and that more people have also been seen in the nation’s parks than in previous weeks.
The government has insisted that it does not want to lift the blockade measures too soon, as the country is still experiencing a “dangerous moment” in the coronavirus pandemic.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab pointed to a reported increase in Covid-19 cases in Germany when discussing measures of social distancing at the daily Downing Street press conference.
Raab said a similar rebound in the UK “is a very real risk and it is vital that we proceed carefully.”
He added: “We must not gamble on the sacrifices and progress we have made; we must follow the scientific evidence and we must continue to make the right decisions at the right time.”
The chancellor said that he “did not know” whether the five tests to lift the blockade had been completed and said that the country was at a “delicate and dangerous moment in this challenge.”
He explained that the UK was still “getting to the top” of the virus and said that people need to maintain current measures “until we are out of danger.”
Professor Van-Tam also urged caution about reopening schools and said ministers should be “very careful”. He said it was “premature” to debate returning to the classroom, but said the idea was “in the mix” in talks about easing the restrictions.
He also doubted that it was possible for young children to stay two meters apart from each other in a classroom setting.
Professor Van-Tam’s comments come hours after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said that schools would reopen “gradually” but that the government did not have a fixed date in mind for this.
Wetherspoons plans to reopen their pubs ‘in or around June’ after being closed by coronavirus blockade
By Lara Keay
Wetherspoons plans to start reopening its pubs and hotels “in or around June,” it was revealed yesterday.
President Tim Martin was forced to close the 900 bars and leave 40,000 workers unemployed before Britain closed.
It was one of the last on High Street to close the store, and drinkers drank their final pints on March 20, just three days before the law imposed a closure.
There were threats to organize a nationwide boycott of the chain when Martin claimed that the closure of bars was “exaggerated” and that supermarkets were at greater risk of spreading the coronavirus than bars.
He later refused to pay the workers until he received the appropriate government bailout and sparked more fury and hypocritical accusations when he told the workers to look for work at Tesco.
His pub in Crystal Palace, south London, was smeared with the words ‘pay your staff’ after the chief who supported Brexit refused to pay the staff until he received the money from the government.
Wetherspoons President Tim Martin (pictured with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July last year) was forced to close the 900 bars and leave 40,000 workers unemployed when Britain closed on March 23.
JD Wetherspoon said his goal is to raise £ 141 million as part of a stock placement scheme so that it can be reopened when summer begins.
The company said it would increase the amount by issuing up to 15.7 million shares to 900 pence per share.
But yesterday, Public Health England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, seemed to put off hopes that pubs would reopen soon.
When asked about the reopening of pubs, beaches, and garden centers, he said at the Downing Street press conference: “ At various different points they can involve the congregation of individuals and one must be very careful and careful in thinking about some of these before we make the wrong move to relax the measurements.
‘I think we have to be extremely safe and extremely careful about this.
‘This virus will absolutely come back … this will accompany us for quite some time, potentially until we receive a vaccine.
“So from that perspective, we have to be very careful and very safe and I’m not going to suggest for a moment that any of this is rushed.”
Martin, a Conservative Party donor and ardent Brexiteer, caused even more controversy last month when he said he would contract coronavirus because his “chances are good.”
Drinkers are photographed at JJ Moon’s in Tooting, South London, on March 20, the last day Wetherspoon was open across the country.
The 64-year-old said: “If someone were to offer me the opportunity now to have him under supervised conditions, I think they would probably take advantage of it because their chances are very, very good.”
He said to Sky at the time: ‘The supermarkets are very, very full. Pubs are much less crowded.
“There has hardly been transmission of the virus in bars and I think it is excessive to close them.” That is a commercial vision, but also a common sense vision.
He claimed that a nationwide shutdown was “draconian” and that it offered “no health benefits.”
Martin hoped he could get away with introducing social distancing in his bars, with a ‘repeat customers only’ policy in some.
He said that people could more easily maintain their distance as feet drop and some are unable to leave the house due to underlying health conditions.
The news was met with a mixed response on social media, with some desperate to return to their favorite pubs and others who continued to threaten a boycott.
One person asked if they could pre-order drinks before the possible June reopening.
But someone else wrote: “I am planning to distance myself socially from Wetherspoons and Tim Martin for a long time.”
Another person commented, ‘I certainly won’t spend money on a Wetherspoons after all of this is over. #TimMartin “.
