TfL staff failed to spot dozens of "potential bombs" planted at stations during covert security tests.
Undercover Department for Transport inspectors left suspicious packages at railway stations on 63 separate occasions over the past year -with staff failing to identify the items 22 times, according to an internal document disclosed by The Telegraph.
The internal bulletin containing the figures was circulated earlier this month on the same day MI5’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the UK terror threat level to "severe" following the Golders Green stabbings in April.
The Conservatives have demanded an urgent review of TfL’s security procedures and called for the full findings to be released publicly.
Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden said: "Londoners are entitled to know whether the people responsible for keeping them safe are taking that responsibility seriously."
He added: "TfL are failing the basic security standards Londoners have every right to expect on their transport network.
"Sadiq Khan has treated TfL as a vanity project for a decade, racking up huge debts on the service, so no wonder issues like this arise when resources are stretched."
Railway stations are routinely subjected to surprise inspections by Department for Transport officials as part of anti-terror security checks.
TfL staff failed to identify a third of fake 'suspicious packages' placed by inspectors over the past year
|GETTY
Staff are expected to carry out regular sweeps of public areas including platforms, storage cupboards and even yellow wet-floor warning cones where suspicious items could potentially be hidden.
According to the internal bulletin: "The person tasked with checking all the public areas of the station, to a standard sufficient to spot an unattended item, failed in this relatively straightforward task on more than a third of occasions."
The findings have sparked fresh concerns over security standards across London’s transport network.
A TfL spokesman defended the organisation’s procedures, saying: "Safety and security are at the absolute centre of everything we do, and we work closely with the DfT, the police and other security partners to keep our network safe for our customers."
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The findings have sparked fresh concerns over security standards across London’s transport network
| GETTYThe spokesman added the covert tests were "deliberately challenging and difficult to pass" and said the results were feeding into a "comprehensive security improvement programme."
A Department for Transport spokesman said operators are required to meet strict security standards.
"We expect operators to take action where issues are identified, and we have enforcement powers where serious or repeated problems are found," a spokesman said.
TfL has also previously trialled artificial intelligence technology at Willesden Green station to monitor CCTV footage for aggressive behaviour and potential weapons, with the pilot concluding in September 2023.
Richard Holden accused Sir Sadiq Khan of treating TfL as a 'vanity project'
| PAAcross the TfL network, around 48,000 crimes were reported last year.
The figure marks a 46 per cent increase compared with the pre-pandemic average of 16,544 offences.
In 2025, 4,593 violence against women and girls offences were recorded across the network, yet only around three per cent resulted in a charge or summons, while 58 per cent of cases identified no suspect.
GB News has approached the Mayor of London’s office for comment.
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