School pupils told to mask up on London Tube

Coronavirus - Mon Jul 19, 2021
Face coverings are a condition of carriage for all passengers aged 11 and older unless exempt, says Transport for London
PA
Ross Lydall @RossLydall1 September 2021

Pupils returning to school were on Wednesday warned they risked being unable to board a bus or Tube if they failed to wear a mask.

Transport for London said face coverings were a “condition of carriage” for all passengers aged 11 and older, unless exemptions applied.

Buses can operate at full capacity – including with passengers standing – and windows are being propped open to increase ventilation.

Bus passenger numbers are about two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels, with Tube numbers increasing to about 50 per cent of normal.

A full bus service is running across London, with school day-only routes – those generally numbered 600-699 – running as they did in the previous academic term.

TfL said 400 enforcement officers were patrolling the network and failure to comply with the face mask rules “could result in being turned away from services”.

Andy Byford, London’s transport commissioner, said: “Face coverings remain a condition of carriage unless an exemption applies and we’re thankful to the majority of Londoners who are sticking to this requirement to help keep everyone safe.”

It came as parents were urged to speak to their children about road safety in a bid to reduce the number being killed or injured on the capital’s roads.

The London Road Safety Council launched a “It’s a jungle out there” campaign targeted at pupils entering their first year of secondary school and more likely to be travelling independently.

It said that 143 children were injured on London roads at the start of the 2020 school year, according to TfL statistics for last September. Of these, 73 victims were pedestrians, 14 of which suffered “serious” injury. A total of 36 children were injured while travelling by car and 25 while riding a bike.

James Parker, executive officer at the London Road Safety Council, said: “Independently walking, cycling or taking public transport to school is, for many young people, a rite of passage, but the sad reality is that a significant number of incidents involving a child killed or seriously injured as a result of a road collision happen on the school run.

“As part of the ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’ campaign we want to encourage families across London to have the conversation about what the risks of the road are, and how to safely navigate their way to and from school. Our ultimate mission is to ensure that every child gets home safely each evening.”

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