What Social Distancing? Commuter Crowds Pile On To Trains On First Day

Safety regimes to stop the spread of coronavirus collapsed yesterday as commuters crammed on trains for the first day back.

- John Ingham

Standing room only on some London underground trains made social distancing rules impossible.

Large crowds were pictured on platforms waiting for trains before passengers piled on.

As signs of normal life returned with garden centres and civic amenity tips reopening, facemasks were in evidence. But the recommended protection to stop wearers spreading the killer disease was scant among commuters.

Meanwhile, rush hour traffic rose in the capital as thousands drove to work. On Sunday night Boris Johnson tried to revive the economy by easing restrictions following a drop in the death rate.

He said those who can should continue to work from home but if that is not possible they should return to the workplace.

Stricter

But he added: “We want it to be safe for you to get to work. So you should avoid public transport if at all possible because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.”

He urged workers to commute by car, walking or bicycle. But yesterday showed that for many his message is impossible to follow.

Compounding the risk of overcrowding is the fact that the public transport network is running at greatly reduced capacity.