Give us access to Finsbury Park

In a City the size of London, the Underground system is the quickest way to get around and we are disappointed with the Mayor's decision to shelve 22 of the 45 planned step free access projects across London only committing himself to providing step-free access at 29 per cent of all stations by 2017. This is a major step back from previous plans to provide step-free access on a third of the network by 2013. As a result, many disabled passengers, older people and parents with young children are being denied access to this mode of transport. This is particularly concerning in the run up to the 2012 Paralympics and makes us wonder how the Mayor is planning to keep his post-Beijing pledge to make London’s Games the most accessible ever.

It makes little sense that Finsbury Park, where the current 49.1m passenger journeys a year are likely to increase by 40% over the next 15 years, is not being made step-free whilst Kingsbury and Amersham, both serving less than one tenth of Finsbury Park’s passengers, are being made accessible. We believe that money would be better spend on projects in areas where a larger number of people would benefit.

The decision makes even less sense because Network is going ahead with plans to provide step-free access from the overground platforms to street level at Finsbury Park. It has now given Transport for London and the Mayor until the autumn to change their minds on working together to make Finsbury Park step-free.

These are the reasons why we (Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jennette Arnold AM, local councillors, the Islington Disability Network, Islington Mobility Forum and Transport for All) are working together to collect as many signatures to pass to the Mayor to convince him to change his mind. If you agree that Finsbury Park Underground station should be made accessible to all passengers then please sign this petition. We are aiming to hand the petition over to the Mayor in the Autumn.

Ps. Please provide your email address to ensure your signature counts!