TfL chief's threat to police over bendy bus 'criticism'

Peter Hendy, head of Transport for London, also attacked a Liberal Democrat MP who questioned the buses' safety as a "rent-a-mouth".

Emails leaked to the Evening Standard show that Mr Hendy, who is supposed to be politically neutral, was furious at police sources who spoke to a newspaper after Lee Beckwith, 21, was killed by a bendy bus which dragged him under its wheels for nearly a mile without the driver noticing.

Officers told the Mirror: " Pedestrians and cyclists are constantly caught out by the line taken by the back half of the bus at corners. We have seen lots of incidents where people have had feet crushed or legs broken by the rear wheels."

On 9 October, Mr Beckwith, a tiler from Brentwood, got off the Number 25 bus in Ilford High Road but fell under the wheels. His body became dislodged in Romford Road, Manor Park. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In an email to David Brown, TfL's director of surface transport, Mr Hendy said: "The statements clearly come from the Met traffic officers involved in the investigation (and are manifestly incorrect). It makes me inclined to cut support for TOCU in future budgets as clearly their support for us is limited to taking money and is one way."

TOCU is the Transport Operational Command Unit, the Met division charged with tackling road safety and bus crime. Funded by TfL, it has 1,200 police officers, community support officers and traffic wardens and is a "key part" of the Met's anti-crime strategy.

TOCU's £70million budget was not cut but Lib-Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick, a former police commander, today called Mr Hendy's threat "outrageous". He said: "Police traffic investigators are experts in road safety. If they are saying that bendy buses are dangerous, people should take notice."

Boris Johnson, the Tory mayoral candidate, said: "The police's job is not to 'support' Mayoral policy but to protect the public. It would be quite wrong for politics to interfere with the police doing their duty." Mr Hendy's email, written on 10 October last year, continued: "Will you make sure they [the police] know how fed up I am with what seems like complete indifference to our relationship? I will certainly raise this and the Barnet embarassment [sic] with [Met Commissioner] Ian Blair."

The "Barnet embarassment" refers to an occasion last year when police expressed "serious concerns" about the safety of a new conventional singledecker service, the 384, routed through "unsuitable" residential streets in Barnet and called for an "urgent review".

Last week, the Standard published an email from the Mayor's chief of staff, Simon Fletcher, in which he said he was "very worried" about the media appeal of Mr Johnson's pledge to scrap bendy buses. Mr Hendy replied by asking if there was "mileage" in TfL " refuting Boris's public transport ideas".

In the latest emails between the men, Mr Hendy attacked Richmond Park Lib-Dem MP Susan Kramer, who called for a review of bendy bus safety following Mr Beckwith's death in Manor Park last October - one of at least six over the past 18 months. "Susan Kramer is a rent-a-mouth," Mr Hendy wrote. "Pity the Lib-Dems are more Tory than Labour!"

Ms Kramer said today: "I haven't had satisfactory answers from TfL on bendy bus safety. There needs to be a review."

A TfL spokesman said: "Mr Hendy was privately expressing his frustration." Regarding Mr Hendy's threat to cut police budget, he said: "He was simply making clear such matters should be resolved through official channels, not the media or third parties."

PETER HENDY'S EMAIL TO A COLLEAGUE