New figures released by Transport for London (TfL) have shown that the London Trams network has been delayed by other road users blocking the tracks at least once a month, for most months since November 2019.
It is true that many of these blockages only cause minor delays to services (although even one small delay can contribute to a snowball effect of continued delayed services across the network), but some last longer with the figures showing that on one occasion the tracks were blocked for 46 minutes which meant that 130km of planned services had to be cancelled.
The majority of delays occur in central Croydon. For those not familiar with the London Trams network, the line in central Croydon runs on a single track loop with, in particular, the section along George Street and Church Street being very narrow and often blocked by cars and delivery vans.
Delays have not only been caused by private cars and delivery vans, but also by the emergency services who often have no choice put to park on the tracks when dealing with incidents.
Although many of the blocking incidents are caused by inattention and unawareness of what they are doing, it is also claimed by local traders that it is exacerbated by the lack of short-term parking in the town centre.