Mayor's handling of snow chaos condemned

Friday, 29 May 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Boris Johnson has been criticised for his poor handling of February's snow chaos in London, according to a committee of MPs.

Details of the disruption to London transport and the mayor's response to the travel network's halt were published in the report by the Transport Select Committee.

"The lack of leadership manifested in his reaction to the disruption of public transport is disappointing," the report said.

Better co-ordination between local authorities and transport operations as well as clearer leadership was greatly needed to tackle similar situations in the future, MPs found.

"The travel disruption at the beginning of February was unsatisfactory," said committee chairman Louise Ellman.

"While the unusually heavy snow fall meant that some disruption was inevitable, it is vital that all those involved ensure that winter maintenance plans and crisis responses are reconsidered so as to minimise disruption in the future."

She added that more strategic leadership and practical effort from London's mayor could have meant that transport be restored much quickly and that the public retained confidence.

To respond to severe weather, there needs to be 'strong co-ordination' and 'visible leadership' rather than extra spending to transport service, the MPs claimed.

In February, most of the buses in the capital were suspended while tube lines and mainline rail services were seriously disrupted resulting in thousands of people unable to commute to work.

Mr Johnson called the criticisms of his response to the sudden weather "pathetic" when he stormed out of a meeting with the Transport Select Committee in April.

His actions were criticised for not being "in accordance with his responsibilities as mayor and as chairman of Transport for London".

However, the mayor disagreed with Louise Ellman, saying the committee's attacks were biased and calling the report "partisan and wholly opportunistic".

"With the benefit of hindsight it is even clearer to the mayor that putting buses on icy roads, which could not be cleared, would have been irresponsible, dangerous and potentially lethal," said a spokesman.

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