00:00Angela Rayner is backing plans put forward by Sir Sadiq Khan to pedestrianise Oxford Street as quickly as possible.
00:09The mayor of London has previously tried to ban traffic from the famous shopping street,
00:16but was thwarted by then-conservative majority in Westminster City Council in 2018.
00:25However, Sir Sadiq's office say 66% of people asked as part of a consultation on the plans backed the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street.
00:37Separate research from YouGov, run in September of last year, suggested that 63% of Londoners support the project as well.
00:47Now, Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,
00:53said that she wants to see Oxford Street become the thriving place to be for tourists and Londoners alike.
01:02And that's why they are welcoming the mayor of London's bold proposals to achieve that.
01:09Hundreds of drivers are using a free ferry to cross the River Thames instead of using two tunnels,
01:16which now have tows, the Silvertown and the Blackpool Tunnel.
01:20As a result, drivers have described lengthy queues and a surge in the number of lorries using the Woolwich Ferry
01:29after tows began on the 7th of April for the Silvertown and Blackpool Tunnels.
01:35Commuters have said that although the ferry is like a cargo ship, as lorries use a lot of space,
01:41it was still preferable to the too-high £8 daily tunnel toll.
01:48Transport for London has said it is monitoring the situation closely.
01:53Its figures show an additional 1,800 vehicles use the boat-based crossing every day since the tolls came in.
02:02The mayor of London has been asked for comment and hasn't replied as of yet.
02:08The combined Silvertown and Blackpool Tunnel corridor averages 88,000 vehicles across both directions on a typical weekday, the TfL have added.
02:20Lime and Forest have been fined more than £30,000 in penalty after the latest crackdown on abandoned e-bikes in London by Transport for London.
02:31TfL has issued hundreds of £100 penalty tickets to the two main operators of dockless e-bikes in the capital after ending a grace period when only warning letters were sent.
02:46By May 15, a total of 333 penalties had been issued with a total face value of around £33,000, with the cost reduced to £50 if paid within a fortnight.
