Transport union RMT, along with fellow trade unionists and MP’s, will be demonstrating outside Kings Cross station on Sunday 18th November at 11.00 to Mark the 25th anniversary of the Kings Cross fire and to highlight the continued need for a fully staffed and safe tube network.

Local MP Frank Dobson will table the following Early Day Motion in Parliament on Monday:

Sunday’s demonstration is especially important in light of London Underground documents, which have been seen by RMT, which plan to impose an unattended network including de-staffing stations and introducing automated trains, measures which would necessitate the ripping up of the safety regulations, including minimum staffing levels, which were introduced in the aftermath of the Kings Cross tragedy.

Demonstration
RMT members, fellow trade unionists and community supporters will assemble at the front of Kings Cross station for 11.00 hours.

Speakers will include:

Bob Crow – RMT General Secretary
Matt Wrack – Fire Brigades Union General Secretary
Frank Dobson – The local MP for Kings Cross/St Pancras
Megan Dobney – Secretary of the Southern and Eastern Region TUC
Andrew Dismore – London Assembly Member and solicitor who worked on the aftermath of the fire
John McDonnell – London MP and Convenor of RMT’s Parliamentary Group

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“This Sunday we will mark the 25th anniversary of one of the greatest peace-time disasters to hit London when, due to a culture of complacency and systemic failure, 31 people lost their lives in the fire at Kings Cross underground station.

“We are marking the event with a public demonstration to send out the message that never again must the London Underground be dragged back to the same catalogue of complacency and failures which led us to Kings Cross.

“RMT, our trade union colleagues, politicians and the community will be calling on Boris Johnson and his officials to end once and for all the threatened cuts to station and platform staffing levels, the cuts to maintenance schedules and the persistent threat to bring in driverless trains, threats that Boris Johnson raised once again at the Tory Party conference only a few weeks ago.

“RMT, our trade union colleagues, politicians and the community will be calling on Boris Johnson and his officials to end once and for all the threatened cuts to station and platform staffing levels" - Bob Crow

All of that posturing and corner-cutting has to stop and the safety regime introduced after Kings Cross must be both protected and developed to meet the modern challenge of ever greater tube passenger numbers.”

Note:
The King's Cross fire broke out on 18 November 1987 at approximately 19:30 at King's Cross underground station and killed 31 people. The fire started on an escalator serving the Piccadilly Line and approximately fifteen minutes after being reported, just as the first members of the Fire Brigade were investigating, the fire reached flash point, filling the underground ticket office with heat and smoke.

The public inquiry led to strong criticism of London Underground and their safety regime and the fact that staff had been given little or no training to deal with fires or evacuation. The publication of the report lead to resignations of the senior management at London Underground and led to the introduction of new fire safety regulations. RMT says that those regulations, staffing levels and safe working practices are threatened by the current cuts regime within Transport for London.