• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

I will take that as a `no" then. I would like to give you another chance to answer the question more positively, which is to look at outer London stations. I appreciate this point has been touched on earlier, but one of the great public concerns about the national rail network in London is quite how many stations are not staffed at night or, in some cases, are not staffed ever. That leads to enormous insecurity and as a result people just do not use those lines. Can you give a guarantee to Londoners that at all times under your...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Lying behind this question is the under?known fact if there is such a word as `under known" that TfL inherits something like 13,000 staff from the Underground. Only a minority will transfer under the PPP, so there is an awful lot of discretion there. Whatever the Underground"s other failings, surveys repeatedly indicated that the public strongly welcome the number of staff at stations, and indeed would like more. Are you able to give a commitment to Londoners from today's meeting that before there was any cutting of staff from stations you would very publicly and very openly discuss the reasons...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Can I ask about some of the deep stations and safety on them? How are you going to ensure passenger safety on the deep stations when Metropolitan Police officers are out of radio contact when they go down there? You do not have to go very deep to be out of contact, such as at St James's which is only two flights of stairs. Also, London Fire Brigade is not contactable below ground in these stations and negotiations have gotten nowhere over the last two and a half years.

• Question by: Toby Harris
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Do you believe there should always be station staff on duty in all stations?

• Question by: Toby Harris
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

What are your objectives in terms of staffing of stations? Do you have a core figure that you feel should ensure that, however remote it is in terms of the London Underground empire, there will always be staff on duty and available to passengers should they want reassurance or information?

• Question by: Toby Harris
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Thank you for that. The information I have, and it may be out of date, is that only 27 Tube stations had achieved the Safer Station status. I accept your point that this may be an expensive process, so what alternatives would you put in place to establish the extent to which the users of stations feel they are safe and secure? A survey I conducted of users in my constituency earlier this year found that 40% felt their station was unsafe. They also had concerns about cleanliness and the lack of adequate information there. What steps would you see...

• Question by: Toby Harris
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Can I have your assurance that the focus of this, including the works on CCTV and so on, will not simply be about Zone 1, the most used stations, and the one where all the tourists go. In the area I represent, and I know there will be colleagues around the table for whom it is the same, that it is the most suburban, perhaps less busy, stations in which people feel the most insecure. Will efforts be targeted outside the central zone?

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

Some stations, although they may not be in a critical condition, are not very good; for instance, Stockwell in South London is not due for a makeover until 2008. They may not be the worst on the list, but nonetheless they are a very poor environment. We have a significant amount of antisocial behaviour and nuisance around those stations, which I think is partially conditioned by the fact that the station is not in a good state and does not feel like a secure environment, as Toby mentioned. Is there any prospect for interim work to be done to give...

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 11 June 2003

I should say `welcome'; I think every Londoner would want you to be successful in your job. I think you should understand that we all wish you well in your post. I appreciate that Brixton, which is the sixth busiest station in London, is being done and that Kennington is being done. Are you saying you are satisfied with the criteria that Tube Lines have applied in terms of determining their priorities? If I could make a point that I think parallels something that Toby was saying: because there are fewer stations in South London, in my view they have...