• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Normally it takes less than five seconds for the Fire Brigade to answer a call. There was no technical breakdown, but obviously if there are literally thousands of calls coming in at that same time it does cause difficulty. The fire brigade then goes into handling its requests differently and responds to them sequentially; in other words, fire engines are dispatched from one incident and then to the next and so on, rather than returning to the station. So there is a procedure for dealing with this, but it was just extensive flash-flooding and not a life-threatening situation on this...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Obviously we would need to have a good response right at the start across the board in the event of an emergency. Will you take a look at the London Fire Brigade switchboard and find out why it was overloaded during last night's flooding? It was taking over 15 minutes for people to get through. Can you try to ensure that is a problem which does not repeat itself when we have other, perhaps more serious emergencies in future?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

You have put a lot of faith in Mr O'Toole. Is his contract open-ended?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

That allegation was made on 6 April, so perhaps you should check if it is happening. When you touched on the claims about training, the RMT is still saying that it is simply not true that the training is adequate. Where do you stand on this? You are vocalising two sides of the argument, but the complaint is still there.

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

I understand that, but they are actually on the spot. Is it true that agency and subcontracting staff are walking in and out of LUL premises without any checks whatsoever?

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

So it was the case that emergency breathing apparatus for frontline staff has been rejected, even though Washington, for example, is supplied with breathing apparatus so they can carry out evacuations in the event of a chemical attack? It does seem strange that those frontline staff who will have to make on-the-spot decisions will not be equipped so that they last long enough to evacuate normal passengers.

• Question by: Noel Lynch
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

LTUC has said that even where there are toilets, about 25% of them are not accessible because they are locked. Some of the new stations like Canary Wharf have very good toilets, but that is if you can find them. You say there are notices about toilets in every Tube station. I have never seen one, and I travel two or three times a day on the Tube. There seems to be a problem with signage in the stations that do have toilets.

• Question by: Noel Lynch
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Your transport strategy refers to a truly accessible city, more transfer from cars to public transport and social inclusion. Do you accept that a lack of toilet facilities is likely to defeat achievements on all these three objectives? Are you aware that half a million Londoners suffer from incontinence problems? How are they supposed to use the public transport system?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Do you feel that Croydon is wrong to close their nine public toilets this year?

• Question by: Noel Lynch
• Meeting date: 28 April 2004

Do you agree that this is a very big issue for older people and that older people have not received the attention they deserve from your transport policy?