London party 'in disarray'

Ken Livingstone has fallen out with tube bosses

Plans for New Year's Eve celebrations in London are still in disarray with questions about crowd safety, sponsorship and budgets still unanswered.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone described the state of affairs with just six weeks to go until the big day as "completely unacceptable".

Speaking during Mayor's Question Time at the Greater London Authority (GLA), Mr Livingstone accused Railtrack and rail operators of "pulling a stunt" by proposing the closure of most stations on New Year's Eve because they cannot cope safely with more than one million travellers.

It would cost as much to cancel as to go ahead

Ken Livingstone

Sir Bob Geldof's company, 10 Alps, won a contract to put on a spectacular community event in the capital, with £1.5m of National Lottery money, in June last year.

But the plans have been dogged with problems about transport and safety.

The fireworks display has already been moved from 1900 to 1700 GMT to help ease congestion problems.

There may be no repeat of last year's New Year's Eve celebrations

Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Vauxhall, Battersea Bridge and Queenstown Road Mainline stations will all be closed.

GLA member John Biggs accused Mr Livingstone of trying to "deflect responsibility" for his failure to clear up outstanding problems on to others.

He said the uncertainty had left many party-goers uncertain about whether it would be safe to travel into central London for the much-hyped celebrations.

But Mr Livingstone blamed Railtrack and the other train operating companies.

"If they intended to pull this stunt they should have done it earlier," he said. "It has caused great confusion and worry, and made it very difficult to operate these events."

Mr Livingstone said he was unlikely to cancel the celebrations, saying: "It is a bit like the Dome in that it would cost as much to cancel as to go ahead."

London Underground is fearful of overcrowding on the tubes

The deadline for the submission of final plans in 24 November.

Some Authority members were worried that nothing has yet been put down in writing about the GLA's financial and legal responsibilities over the event.

Overtime pay for the emergency services could be incurred if it is too late to cancel provisional extra holiday work because of the late delivery of the party plan.

Approximately 7,000 police officers will be needed to work over this festive period at a cost of around £7m.

Mr Livingstone said agreement had nearly been reached with London Underground to close fewer stations in central London on New Year's Eve.

"They will almost operate a normal Sunday service, but we await further plans from them," he said.