'Slow! Very slow!' Working from home hits trade for London cabbies

London cabbies said there was a noticeable slowdown in trade after Boris Johnson urged people in England to work from home to slow to spread of the Omicron Covid variant.

One cabbie described his day so far as "Slow! Very slow!" adding:

"With the kids breaking up from school and Boris's stay at home message I think that's why to be honest.

"Of course I'm worried with Christmas coming up in less than two weeks I'm very worried but what can you do?" he added.

Several commuters also said there was a drop in road traffic and passenger numbers on buses and trains in England on Monday morning.

A woman with the Twitter username @Katycat1960 wrote:

One cabbie said the scenes in London reminded him of the way things were last year.

"It's very slow. I like Christmas but this year will be the same as last year the way it's going," he said.

Another Black Cab driver added: "Working from home is going to hurt us definitely but we just have to crack on.

"London seems to be in its own bubble sometimes.

"Last year was crippling, it was bad. You've got to crack on, I've had four fares so far this morning in two hours, so I'm not too bad so far."

Several people travelling by train to London reported that services were quieter on Monday morning.

A photograph of a near-empty escalator of Waterloo station was posted on Twitter by @lucitelu, with the caption:

It was revealed the NHS will have to postpone some planned appointments in order to meet the target of giving every adult in England a Covid-19 booster jab by the end of the year.

Nursing leaders have expressed concern about the “scale and pace” of the vaccine programme expansion – which will aim to jab almost a million people every day – while a charity said the Government must ensure NHS cancer services are “prioritised and protected”.