Sadiq Khan has been ordered to ‘get a grip’ of the transport chaos at Wimbledon as it is risking London‘s reputation globally.
Thousands of fans from around the world have been hit by days of cancellations and delays getting to SW19 due to signalling failures.
Pictures showed overcrowded trains and gridlocked stations with visitors furious at missing matches.
Paul Kohler, Lib Dem MP for Wimbledon, blasted the London Mayor, who is chairman of Transport for London (TfL), telling him: ‘This is an international embarrassment.
‘This is one of the jewels in the crown of British sport and people can’t get to the Championships on time because the train won’t get them there. There is such a contrast in how the All England Club runs such a tight ship.’
TfL and Network Rail have blamed ‘signalling issues’.
But locals say it is the worst disruption for almost 30 years, affecting 43,000 spectators who travel to the grounds each day.
TfL admitted it ran only 75 per cent of the normal services on the first two days of the Championships, despite much greater demand from passengers.
Mr Kohler said: ‘Sadiq Khan needs to just get a grip. This has been a long running problem, no-one is surprised because this happens time and time again.’
Wimbledon fans queue to get out of Southfields station on the London Underground yesterday
People queue to enter Southfields London Underground station after Wimbledon on Tuesday
Mr Kohler, who has written to the mayor, said the fault was caused by a long-standing issue that has been repeatedly raised with TfL – but they have failed to fix it.
Save Wimbledon Park campaigner Simon Wright, 68, said: ‘Wimbledon are telling people to not arrive by car and TfL are saying they can not run any more trains.
‘They cannot manage the number of people they have got at the moment.
‘I think it’s crazy. It’s the worst that I have seen, especially because the District Line has been falling over.’
Helen Kaufmann, who had tickets for court two, said she and her husband Alex missed the start of the first match because they were left stuck in the ‘really crowded’ Southfields station.
Anas Ramsey, a traffic marshal outside Southfields, said the transport network near the All England Club had been beset by issues this year. ‘There have been a lot of problems,’ he said.
Rows and rows of Lime bikes were parked on the lawn of Wimbledon Park as spectators rushed to get on the electric rental bikes to avoid the tube delays.
A spokesman for TfL said: ‘We apologise to customers affected by the disruption on the District line, which is due to a track fault at Tower Hill.
‘Our engineers are working hard to rectify the fault as soon as possible and restore a good service.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the All England Club in Wimbledon on September 4, 2020
Southfields station is pictured on June 25, before the tennis tournament began this week
‘District line customers are advised to allow extra time for their journeys and to check before they travel using TfL Journey Planner or the TfL Go app.’
A spokesman for the Mayor of London, said: ‘The Mayor is investing record amounts in London’s transport network, which enables millions of journeys every day.
‘When there are delays on the network, TfL works at pace to restore the services to normal and minimise disruption to those travelling around our city.
‘The Mayor remains focused on delivering the reliable, world-class public transport system Londoners expect and deserve.’
Meanwhile, the final three British men crashed out of the singles – with world No 4 Jack Draper being defeated by unseeded Croatian veteran Marin Cilic in a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 defeat.
Dan Evans was beaten in straight sets by 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 and wildcard Jack Pinnington Jones went down 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 to Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.
