London transport chaos to hit royal wedding and FA Cup celebrations

Transport chaos in London to hit the royal wedding and FA Cup final tomorrow
Sadiq Khan criticised over decision to shut down large parts of the network
Revellers face major disruption due to planned engineering works on the Tube

By James Salmon Transport Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: 00:20 BST, 18 May 2018 | Updated: 01:26 BST, 18 May 2018

Hundreds of thousands of revellers celebrating the royal wedding on Saturday face having their plans ruined by travel chaos.

London mayor Sadiq Khan came under fire yesterday over the decision to shut down large parts of the capital’s transport system on one of its biggest days for years.

Services are set to come under severe strain, with the wedding taking place in Windsor 25 miles away at midday and the FA Cup final at Wembley later in the afternoon. Despite this, Transport for London (TfL) has opted to close most of the Circle and District Lines on the Tube, as well as a long stretch of the London Overground.

TV audience could be this year’s biggest

The royal wedding is expected to be the most-watched TV event of the year – so long as England don’t make it to the World Cup final.

Millions are expected to follow Harry and Meghan’s ceremony live on BBC1 and ITV.

With the wedding also being broadcast on Sky One, Sky News and the BBC News channel, the combined audience could rival the 14million that made Blue Planet II the biggest programme of last year.

But the main rival for most-watched programme this year could come during the World Cup, which begins next month in Russia. At the 2014 World Cup, 14.7million watched England lose to Italy in the group stages of the competition. The final between Germany and Argentina was watched by 15million.

Harry will struggle to beat the numbers that watched his brother marry Kate Middleton on April 29, 2011, however.

An audience of 26million tuned in across ten UK channels for William’s wedding, according to ratings company Barb.

This is likely to cause major disruption for well-wishers making the short trip to Windsor to celebrate the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as well as for those going to one of the many public parties in major parks across London.

Tory MP Steve Double, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: ‘This is one of the biggest days in London with the FA Cup and the royal wedding. Clearly tens of thousands of people will be wanting to come to London. It is very short-sighted of the mayor to allow these engineering works to take place. They should have planned for this weeks ago. I hope Mr Khan makes the right decision and lifts them at this late stage.’

Mr Khan yesterday indicated he could lift the engineering works after London Assembly members warned they could cause major travel disruption.

He said: ‘If it is the case that maintenance works will cause any problems for travel, they can be moved. It doesn’t make sense ever for there to be maintenance works taking place in advance of big events.’ But last night a source from TfL said the closures are likely to go ahead.

Many councils have scrapped road closure charges to enable residents to hold street parties for the wedding, while the BBC has waived the licence fee for communities wanting to watch the ceremony together.

Caroline Pidgeon, a Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly, said: ‘We should be celebrating that London is open this weekend. Sadly that is not the message that TfL and Network Rail are sending out.’

Tomorrow the Circle Line will be closed between Aldgate and Edgware Road, via Victoria. This will make it harder for those heading to Windsor to get to Paddington station.

The whole of the District Line west of South Kensington will be closed on every branch, as will parts of the Jubilee Line, with replacement buses operating.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle looked relaxed as their Range Rover took them from Windsor Castle after the rehearsal

Chelsea FC, whose stadium is in the area affected by District Line closures, play Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley at 5.15pm. The London Overground will be closed between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction.

Nigel Holness, London Underground’s director of network operations, said a full Tube services would be running to Wembley and that it was working with Network Rail regarding trains to Windsor. He added: ‘We are confident that those wishing to use our services to help get them to these two important events will be able to do so.’

Newlyweds’ autumn trip Down Under

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle plan to launch themselves on the world stage with a major tour Down Under later this year.

Aides say the second half of this year will be ‘incredibly busy’ with official visits, and a trip to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga has been mooted for October.

The couple have already announced they are delaying their honeymoon to return to work next week. It is anticipated Miss Markle – who by then is likely to be an HRH and Duchess – will undertake her first official engagement as a married woman on Tuesday when she joins Prince Charles for his 70th birthday garden party at Buckingham Palace.

The royals will also undertake a couple of short overseas visits before the start of the summer, including a two-day trip to Dublin. But they plan to really showcase their work as a new royal ‘power couple’ later in the year, starting with a visit to Australia, where Harry’s Invictus Games for injured servicemen is being held in Sydney this October.

They will then travel on to New Zealand, a country the prince fell in love with a number of years ago, followed by Fiji and Tonga.

It is understood Miss Markle has been schooled in royal etiquette and traditions by diplomatic staff in recent months ahead of joining the Royal Family.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk