Oxford Street shops see sales jump 19 per cent in the first week after Sadiq Khan banished traffic
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.Sadiq Khan, whose Oxford Street pedestrianisation scheme drove a 30 per cent sales surge at Marks & Spencer's Pantheon flagship last week, now faces controversy over bus delays running up to 11 minutes beyond TfL's predictions.
Marks & Spencer's flagship Pantheon store on Oxford Street traded 30 per cent ahead of two years ago last week, while John Lewis reported a "fantastic atmosphere" and its new 300-seat restaurant was "constantly busy." But the sales surge comes alongside fresh controversy over emergency access and bus delays.
Timothy Barnes, Westminster Council's deputy leader, posted video of an ambulance with its blue lights flashing as it pulled up to the pedestrianised zone's barriers, warning that one minute may have been 'wasted.'
TfL denies the ambulance was blocked, saying the crew stopped to ask for directions, but Barnes says the padlocked barriers risk making emergency access 'slow and difficult.'
Bus journeys are running up to 11 minutes over TfL's predictions, with the eastbound Route 98 now taking 28 minutes against the authority's forecast of just two to three minutes extra.
