Kiley threatens new court action

Controversial multi-billion pound improvement schemes for London Underground face fresh delays until next year because of the growing row between Tube chiefs and Ken Livingstone, it was revealed today.

As the bitterness and the threat of yet more legal action escalated, it meant work to refurbish the network and the transfer of LU to the Mayor's Transport for London authority (TfL) is not now expected to take place until early 2003 - three years behind schedule.

Paul Godier, LU managing director, said "realistically", transfer of the network to the Mayor will not take place until the "first quarter" of next year.

Senior LU sources today accused Mr Livingstone and his Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley of using "delaying tactics".

This follows claims by Mr Kiley that he has not been given all the documents promised by Transport Secretary Stephen Byers to enable the Mayor and TfL to make judgment on the public-private partnership (PPP.) A board meeting of London Transport, parent company of the Tube, which was to have taken place on 20 March to consider the TfL response and then give final approval to the PPP has been cancelled.

Mr Kiley set a new deadline - suspended from last Friday - of today for LU to provide the "missing" documents or he will begin High Court action. The Transport Commissioner said: "LU is continuing to withhold vital PPP documents from TfL."

LU, however, continued to insist that "all relevant documents" had been supplied to TfL to enable the authority to produce a "valued judgment".