Sadiq Khan wants to make not wearing a mask on Tube a criminal offence
Refusing to wear a face mask on the Tube should be made into a criminal offence, Sadiq Khan has said.
The mayor of London wants the government to introduce a new bye-law that would enshrine face mask wearing on Transport for London (TfL) in law.
Wearing a face mask in enclosed spaces is no longer mandatory according to government rules, however individual transport networks have decided to keep the rule in place.
This includes TfL, with Khan ordering the transport body to force people to wear masks on all services.
TfL’s 400 enforcement officers have the power to stop people boarding Tubes, buses and Overground trains without a mask, but cannot issue fines.
Speaking on a BBC podcast, Khan said: “We are trying to lobby the Government to allow us to bring in a bye-law, so it will be the law again, so we can issue fixed penalty notices and we can use the police service and BTP to enforce this.
“Public transport is safe. What gives people even more confidence is if they know people are wearing face masks.”
Khan said he wanted more people to get back on the capital’s public transport system and return to central London.
City Hall recently launched its Welcome Back London campaign in a bid to get people back on the Tube.
Tube journeys in central London have still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, despite the government no longer advising people to work from home.
Many financial firms have said they will maintain a hybrid working model permanently, which will see staff working from home for at least a couple days’ a week.
“We need people to be coming back to the West End. We want to encourage people to return to their offices,” Khan said.
“They are not going to do so if they don’t feel public transport is safe. I’m hoping the government understands, on the issue of public safety and public confidence, we want to be able to use the law to make sure people do wear face masks in spaces where you can’t keep your social distance for obvious reasons.”