Margaret Hodge calls for new bus route to Queen’s hospital

Labour’s Margaret Hodge travelled from Barking Riverside to Queen’s Hospital by bus on Monday to highlight her campaign for better transport links.

The Barking parliamentary candidate had to catch three rides from Shearwater Close to the Romford hospital – a journey that can take up to two hours.

“If you’ve got to have dialysis or chemotherapy then you have to spend four hours travelling for your treatment, it’s just not on,” Mrs Hodge told the Post.

“We’ve got thousands of signatures because it’s something lots of people feel strongly about.”

She will hand her petition in to the Mayor of London Boris Johnson some time after next week’s general election.

Mrs Hodge also took time out from her campaign to speak to first-time voters at Barking and Dagenham College’s Technical Skills Academy last week, urging them to get to the polls.

The deadline for voting registration closed the day before with a record-breaking 469,000 people signing up on the final day.

“By turning out on May 7th, young people can push the issues they care about up the political agenda,” she said.

“I urge all young voters to head to the ballot box and make their voices heard.”