Tube lifts were closed more than 300 times last year

A drastic increase on 2015s figure

Last year, Tube lifts were closed more than 300 times due to lack of staff with the right training.

Transport for London figures show that lifts were closed 324 times in 2016, this is a significant increase on the 72 times that was seen in 2015.

Passengers who need to use the lifts have said that this issue is “unacceptable”.

Lift closures averaged three and half hours due to a lack of staff to operate them, sometimes they even lasted all day.

East Ham station came out top of the list and had 199 closures. These figures do not include breakdowns or maintenance work.

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem member of the London Assembly and leader of the transport committee, said: “There can never be any excuses for stopping disabled people and other members of the public from using the London Underground due to a lack of trained staff.”

London mayor, Sadiq Khan responded to Pidgeon, he said 325 extra Tube station staff will be taken on this year and this would “help to ensure there are fewer instances of lifts being unavailable due to a lack of trained staff”.