6:46pm Friday 11th April 2008
By Kirsty Whalley
Ken Livingstone said improving Croydon's tram service and getting kids out of gangs and off the streets would be priorities if he was elected for another term as London mayor.
Speaking to the Croydon Guardian during a visit to the town earlier today he said: "The most dramatic thing for Croydon is bringing the tram into public ownership. We will run it to the max with a much more frequent service and a better service to New Addington."
He said Transport for London would purchase a new fleet of trams for Croydon as part of its takeover from Tramtrack and the network would be extended to Crystal Palace.
In response to the recent spate of knife crimes in Croydon Mr Livingstone said he has campaigned long and hard to get the Government to introduce a new law so anyone caught with a knife would get an automatic prison sentence. "If you have a few high profile cases you can break the habit," he said.
"If there is a problem in a particular school, we should swamp that school with police to search the students and their lockers."
He suggested that fingerprint and DNA technology could be used to find out who owned any weapons found.
He said: "There is nothing for kids to do in London at the moment, we need to get kids off the streets and into training.
"We need to provide things for them to do in the evenings and on the weekends and give them role models and mentors. A lot of them have been failed by the education system. We will be providing a proper second chance for these kids."
Mr Livingstone also addressed members of Croydon's Business Improvement District (BID) during his visit to the borough.
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