Hundreds of commuters locked out of Oxford Circus station 'to keep people safe'

Tube bosses today admitted that the locking of huge numbers of passengers outside Oxford Circus station was part of a plan to keep the overcrowded system safe.

Hundreds of rush-hour commuters were pictured stuck outside the station at about 530pm last night - similar to the chaos caused on March 5 when a broken-down Victoria line train forced another temporary lock-out.

Transport for London denied it was “chaotic” and said the “managed control” of passengers outside the station for several minutes at a time was also used at other busy stations, such as Victoria.

TfL said Oxford Circus was used by more than 428,000 passengers a day - 125,201 entering, 137,693 exiting and 166,012 interchanging between lines.

It is under extra pressure because Central line trains are not stopping at Tottenham Court Road until December as a result of Crossrail construction work.

Dozens of angry commuters took to social media websites to complain about the hold-up while others said they gave up and travelled by taxi instead.

One Twitter user wrote: “I love Oxford Circus logic let’s close the station and block the street so people have to walk in the road.”

Tom Jamieson tweeted: “In huge ever growing crowd outside Oxford Circus tube which is closed to prevent overcrowding.”

Peter McNaught, operations director for London Underground, said: “Due to vast crowds that often visit the West End we sometimes have to temporarily close the station to ensure safety and prevent overcrowding at lower levels of the station.

“We are sorry to those who got caught up or delayed. We are expanding Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street stations to meet demand and the opening of Crossrail will mean vital new capacity.”