London's retailers have called for urgent action to deal with recent problems on the tube network.

The British Retail Consortium has requested a meeting with Tim O'Toole, managing director of London Underground, to discuss their growing concerns.

Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Simon Hughes, said: "The recent spate of derailments and line closures is causing chaos for both shoppers and commuters alike.

"However, it is not just the well-publicised accidents that are blighting the tube. Signal failures, faulty escalators and broken down trains are further symptoms of the lack of long-term investment and maintenance on London Underground and this continues to grind down people's faith in the tube.

"Latest figures from a congestion charge report out today suggest that as many as 80,000 fewer people were coming into London.

"Only 4,000 of these people do not come in because of the C-charge, the rest because of the Central Line derailment and lower employment.

"It is clear that very few people are not coming into London because they would have to pay £5 to get in, it is the collapse in confidence and chaos on the tubes that is putting people off doing business in London."

Tim Collins, shadow transport secretary, told ePolitix.com: "London's retailers are right to be worried.

"We simply cannot permit another extended shutdown of a Tube line.

"The three month closure of the Central Line earlier this year was an excessive reaction, which caused major economic and social damage and which risked lives by forcing people to switch to much less safe ways of getting to work.

"London Underground must be instructed to get the Northern Line up and running again by the start of next week at the very latest."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the BRC, said: "Retail is vital to London's economy and a fully running tube network is vital to London's retailers.

"Not only must the Northern Line service be restored as soon as possible, Mr O'Toole has got to act to ensure that users of the tube do not lose confidence in the transport system.

"We were told after the closure of the Central Line that London Underground had learnt some important lessons and would be putting in place effective measures to avoid similar debacles in future - we want to see Mr. O'Toole deliver this.

"If he fails to do so, he risks jeopardising London's position as one of the world's pre-eminent shopping capitals."

Forum Response: Corporation of London

Michael Snyder, chairman of the policy and resources committee at the Corporation of London, said: "London's underground system appears to be falling apart at the seams.

"This latest series of derailments is completely unacceptable. A third class transport system cannot support a first class economy. I urge London Underground to complete the enquiry in to what happened as swiftly as possible because London's long suffering commuters have had enough.

"London contributes up to £18 billion for the upkeep of the rest of the country - keeping just a bit of this money back could help sort out the tube's lack of investment.

"But money will not solve everything and we also need tube management to make sure that both they and the contractors are running maintenance and repairs safely and efficiently. We must ensure that there are no artificial barriers to sorting out these problems."