Sadiq Khan is about to turn Oxford Street into a mugger’s paradise

The London mayor’s scheme will make the West End impenetrable for vehicles – and turn the streets into no-go places for the rest of us

So Sadiq Khan has decided that it’s a great idea to pedestrianise Oxford Street. I wonder if he has actually been there recently? For starters, Oxford Street is one of London’s key east-west arteries, the extension of the A40. It’s how buses get from one side of central London to the other, delivering shoppers – duh, the lifeblood of London’s biggest shopping emporium – in the process.
On top of that, Oxford Street’s pavements have already been so widened that the road itself is now incredibly narrow. No cars are allowed down it ever – only buses and taxis. This is annoying as a motorist but useful if you are trying to get there, or get away (or indeed get home from the West End late at night – although the competition for black cabs come 11pm is fierce). Block off Oxford Street and the centre of the West End will become even more impenetrable for any kind of vehicle. 
I know that London is at war with the motorist (all the rat runs of my youth have been closed off because of low-traffic neighbourhoods, making main roads even more congested). I understand the push for greener transport, bike lanes, less traffic, etc. But what about disabled people who can’t take public transport or an Uber bike? How will they access not just the shops but the offices and theatres which abound off Oxford Street? 
Already the closures of roads has made accessing Soho almost impossible. Stop buses and taxis going down Oxford Street and a bad situation will be even worse.
But there is another problem too. I am often around Oxford Circus tube in the evening and it can be scary. Argyll Street is already pedestrianised, as is the area around Carnaby Street. Rather than making it bliss for al fresco dining and continental-style drinking, it too often means gangs gathering around speakers playing music and lurking on Uber bikes. I often see tourists falling victim to pickpockets and fights breaking out between rival postcode gangs who clash in the centre of town. Robbers snatch people’s phones.
Currently, the buses and taxis trundling along Oxford Street act as a deterrent – at least then there are witnesses, people passing by. Sadiq should think again before making Oxford Street the longest muggers’ paradise in the country.
Eleanor Mills is the author of ‘Much More to Come: Lessons on the Mayhem and Magnificence of Midlife’, published by HarperCollins, and the founder of noon.org.uk – home of the Queenager