Hertfordshire’s Liberal Democrat leader has welcomed Transport for London’s (TfL) U-turn on plans to make its stations cashless.

Proposals to ban cash from all TfL stations – as a way of limiting the spread of Covid-19 – has been scrapped after concerns were raised from transport watchdog London Travel Watch and Watford’s Mayor.

Mayor Peter Taylor previously said banning cash from ticket machines would cause “a lot of inconvenience” to passengers at some stations who are more than 400 metres way from a ‘ticket stop’ - a newsagents where passengers can buy a tube ticket or top up their Oyster.

Among the stations 400m or more away from a ticket stop are Watford Met, Croxley, Rickmansworth, and Chorleywood, as well as Watford High Street Overground station.

While TfL will drop its proposals, a date has not been set to re-instate cash at stations which already have temporary cashless machines such as Watford High Street station, and a TfL spokesperson says the temporary changes will remain in place for now.

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Hertfordshire County Council, said: “I welcome the success of London Travel Watch in persuading TfL to drop proposals to make all tickets cashless.

“Obviously we still await a date when they are to re-instate cash at stations like Lower High Street, but it’s essential we have facilities that are accessible for all at our stations.”

Emma Gibson, director of London Travel Watch said: “We’re delighted that TfL has decided not to go ahead with their plans.

“Their proposals would have left a large number of people in London reliant on newsagents to top up their Oyster cards using cash. Our research has shown that many London Underground or DLR stations don’t have one nearby, or they may not be open when passengers need them.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “After engaging with our stakeholders, we have decided not to expand our temporary measure of making ticket machines cashless to remaining Tube and DLR stations, or other stations on our network, at this time.

“We will instead take time to reflect the issues raised throughout our engagement. The temporary changes made to station ticket machines earlier in the pandemic will remain in place, and we will continue to monitor and respond to any concerns raised.”