Emma Sandon at Tufnell Park Tube station

THERE has been a hike in tube station closures in the past four years, new figures show.

Across Islington in the first five months of this year, there were 47 closures of tube stations – or one every three days.

Across the same period in 2019, a year before the pandemic, there were just 17.

The station hardest hit by the closures, by far, is Tufnell Park, which has been closed 24 times this year, according to figures released to the Tribune under a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, which asked how many stations had been closed in the first six months of 2023 and the first six months of 2019.

Reasons for closures included a lack of staff and lift malfunctions. Currently just one lift is in operation, while a staircase has 110 steps.

Last year, according to data collected by the Telegraph, it was the third worst hit station in London, only behind Chancery Lane and Goodge Street.

Passengers using Tufnell Park said that during the pandemic it was closed completely and warned that with nearby Kentish Town also closed for improvements for a year, should Tufnell Park close unexpectedly, commuters would struggle to get about.

“We’d be f****d,” said actor Tara Newton, who argued it would be particularly “unfair” on the elderly and the disabled.

Abigail Reid

University lecturer Emma Sandon, 66, called for staff to be paid properly for overtime. She added: “It’s very inconvenient if it’s an unannounced closure, and you’ve come up here to go get somewhere, and then as Londoners do, you don’t give a lot of extra time then it suddenly closed – and that happened a lot during Covid and after Covid.”

Actor Abigail Reid, 31, said she would be “walking from Archway” if Kentish Town and Tufnell Park shut.

A spokesman for the commuter rights group London Travel Watch called the closures “inconvenient” and called on Transport for London to keep passengers informed.

“When there is service disruption or station closures, passengers need clear and timely information so they can plan alternative routes to travel,” he said. “We’d expect to see station notices and announcements, as well as live updates on the TfL website and app as soon as possible.”

The FoI release revealed that Angel has closed eight times this year; Archway six; Arsenal 18; Caledonian Road 14; Farringdon four; Highbury and Islington two; Holloway Road 10; and Old Street six.

Finsbury Park was the only station to experience no closures.

Five years ago Tufnell Park had just two closures in the same time period, and no other station had more than five except for Caledonian Road.

Speaking at City Hall last month, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who has been in charge of TfL since he was elected in 2016, apologised and called station closures “far from ideal”. He promised “fewer closures” as TfL plugs staffing gaps and looks at “the process of how stations are selected for closure”.

He added: “Safety is TfL’s top priority, and due to safety regulations, some stations cannot remain open without a set level of staffing, including supervisors.”