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Residents are pleading with Transport for London to prevent traffic disruption worsening by delaying a Tube station closure till roadworks are completed on a nearby cycle superhighway.

Lancaster Gate station is due to shut from January 4 to allow its two 30-year-old lifts to be replaced in time for the Notting Hill Carnival.

Unlike neighbouring Queensway, kept open as its lifts were replaced one at a time, TfL says lack of space prevents this being done at Lancaster Gate.

Locals have sent more than 450 emails in a bid to force a TfL rethink.

Westminster council’s deputy leader Robert Davis said he and fellow councillors felt the closure “could not have been timed worse”.

He added: “Current disruption in the area caused by the cycle superhighway works is already acute and it’s highly regrettable we’re only being notified now, a month ahead of TfL’s announced closure date.”

Work on the western extension of the east-west superhighway is not due for completion till March — though a two-way system recently opened on Bayswater Road, easing the gridlock.

Resident Kevin Lowther told the Evening Standard: “It has improved, certainly in the morning, though traffic heading west in evenings is still really slow compared to what it used to be.

“Traffic heading north through Hyde Park still has horrendous tailbacks.”

TfL advised Tube passengers to use Paddington, Queensway or Marble Arch station, all about 10 minutes’ walk away. Lancaster Gate, on the Central line, is used by more than six million passengers a year. London Underground’s chief operating officer Steve Griffiths said: “I apologise for the disruption the lift work will cause our customers.

“We explored the option of replacing the lifts one at a time to keep the station open but this would be unsafe. Having only one lift operating would lead to long queues and severe congestion.

“There would also be no alternative available amid the increased likelihood of one lift failing, meaning it would take longer for emergency services to rescue customers or tend to someone requiring medical attention.”