Member of Parliament for the Cities of London & Westminster, Nickie Aiken, has written to both TfL Commissioner Mike Brown and Deputy Mayor for Transport Heidi Alexander asking them to confirm that fire safety hazards, identified by the London Fire Brigade, are being addressed.
London Fire Brigade has sent a report of hazards at Victoria Coach Station to the subsidiary of TfL managing the site. They have been given until March 23rd to resolve them. The issues highlighted in the report included contradictory fire exit signs, a lack of fire drills, defunct sprinklers, mismanagement of flammable substance storage and holes in walls, which could allow a fire to uncontrollably spread.
On writing to the Commissioner and Deputy Mayor Nickie Aiken MP commented, “Passenger and employee safety should be the top priority. I hope and expect that TfL will take this issue very seriously and comply. I have written to TfL and the Deputy Mayor for Transport to confirm that they will.”
You can read the text of Nickie’s letter to the Commissioner below.
Dear Commissioner
I would like to express my deep concern at the serious failure to protect public safety in London Victoria Coach Station, in my constituency of Cities of London and Westminster.
The Coach Station, as I’m sure you’re aware, sees over 13 million passengers a year and is London’s largest coach hub. In October 2019, the London Fire Service served TfL an enforcement notice on the premises with over ten pages of required changes to protect the public from dangerous and realistic fire risks.
The failures included “contradictory” fire exit signs, a lack of fire drills, defunct sprinklers, mismanagement of flammable substance storage and holes in walls, which could allow a fire to uncontrollably spread.
Despite the Fire Service notice to address these threats to public safety by March 23rd we still know nothing about whether TfL will meet its obligation to rectify these serious safety issues.
My constituents and I would welcome an update from your office on actions you have taken to meet the requirements of the notice set out by the Fire Service, as well as confirming a timescale for such action.
I have sent a copy of this letter to the Deputy Mayor for Transport.
Nickie Aiken
Member of Parliament for the Cities of London & Westminster
