Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson, commenting on plans by Transport for London to require all London’s taxis to accept card payments from October 2016, including contactless, said:
“This is immediate good news for passengers and in the long term it is also good news for London’s taxi drivers as new forms of payment can only help to boost trade.
Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Chancellor’s announcement in the Treasury Spending Review that police spending will now rise in line with inflation, said:
“It is welcome news that common sense has obviously now prevailed and that serious plans to slash the grant to the Metropolitan Police Service have now been dropped by government.
Westminster politicians are hiding from the real facts about the level of knife crime in London and its impact on young people. This is the hard hitting finding of a new report on knife crime by the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon.
Statistics gathered by the London Assembly Member reveal that during the six-week General Election period (26th March – 8th May) London saw 789 recorded victims of serious youth violence, 1231 victims of knife crime and 441 victims of knife crime with injury.
Caroline Pidgeon has welcomed a petition to the Mayor, promoted by the London Cycling Campaign and supported by 13,000 Londoners, asking for measures to make cyclists safer from the risk of collisions with lorries.
The petition calls for:
Caroline said:
As building work on the Garden Bridge is due to begin despite a £30m funding shortfall, Caroline Pidgeon has expressed concerns that the funding arrangements are “as murky as the water that flows down the Thames” and stressed that both the Department for Transport and the Mayor need to prove they had properly planned for any future problems without extra calls on public money.