Ambulance on blue lights is held up at Khan's new Oxford Street barriers as councillor warns a minute was 'wasted'
Critical Mass riders on Oxford Street, London, where TfL's own traffic cameras recorded penny-farthing riders, cargo bikes and wheelchair users joining Friday night's mass incursion.A London Ambulance Service vehicle on Oxford Street, where the £150m pedestrianisation scheme introduced on 26 October bans all traffic except emergency vehicles.
Footage released by Westminster City Council deputy leader Tim Barnes captures a blue-light ambulance pulling up behind red barriers at the entrance to the pedestrianised zone before marshals approach and it is redirected along Regent Street. TfL maintains the crew had simply paused to ask for directions to Old Cavendish Street and that the barriers were lowered to allow them through. Barnes cautioned that a critical minute may have been "wasted" and demanded an "urgent solution" to the barrier arrangements.
The £150m scheme, launched by Sadiq Khan on 26 October, bans all traffic from roughly half a mile of Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street.
Cyclists and e-scooter riders have been brazenly flouting the ban since day one, weaving through crowds while enforcement officers stood and watched.
In a national newspaper column published today, Khan likened Oxford Street to Barcelona's La Rambla and Times Square — streets that, unlike his scheme, remain open to vehicles.
