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Tube bosses today appealed to commuters to avoid a major station during the height of the morning peak because it is “too busy.”

In emails to sent to passengers they suggest avoiding the Tube section of Victoria station between 8am and 9am when more than 20,000 pack onto the Circle, District and Victoria lines.

London Underground (LU) advises commuters to travel outside this period for a “quicker and more comfortable journey.” Even walking could prove more convenient.

Crunch time is the 15-minute slot between 8.30am and 8.45am when upwards of 6,000 travel through.

The station is so busy that platforms are frequently closed to incoming commuters for safety reasons to allow the worst of the crowds to disperse.

It came as King's Cross was forced to close during the height of rush hour due to serious overcrowding.

Vernon Everitt, managing director for customer experience, marketing and communications at Transport for London, states in his email: “Over 30,000 customers start their Tube journey at this station which is particularly busy between 8am and 9am.

“If you are able to travel outside of these times you could board a train more quickly and have a more comfortable journey.”

The most popular journey is the two stop hop between Victoria and Oxford Circus.

Those travelling between 7am and 7.30 am take on average 14 minutes. But this increases to 20 minutes if the journey is made between 8.30am and 9am because of the difficulty in getting onto trains.

However, many commuters said they had no choice over the timing of their journeys.

Josie Blacknell, 32, an office administrator who works in Fulham, said: “They need to find a solution rather than asking people to be more flexible because some people can’t be more flexible because of the hours they work.

“I think expanding the platforms should be looked into. I think more trains would create delays, so maybe also more carriages and bigger platforms.”

Isabel Fowler, 35, a Care Quality Commission executive from Ladywell, added: “It’s a problem and it’s only getting worse. Victoria really is bad compared with other stations. It’s not a long-term solution asking people to travel at different times. It’s not going to improve conditions.

“It’s about infrastructure. They have to look at the whole of London and see where the hotspots are and I think they could run more trains and perhaps longer or bigger carriages.”

And Ricky Gallimore, 24, an university admissions worker who works in Fulham, said: “It would be great to have more trains and more space on the platforms, you have to try and account for the number of people. But 8am to 9am is the time people need to get to work and that isn’t necessarily going to change and they need to do something to ease it.”

A spokesman from London TravelWatch. the capital’s passenger watchdog, said: “A significant minority of people may be able to change their journeys to avoid Victoria in the morning peak and help ease overcrowding, for example, St James’s Park station is within walking distance of Victoria.

“The fact that there is congestion highlights the need for sustained investment to meet London’s ever growing transport needs and ensure that public transport capacity keeps pace with growth. This is something we have highlighted in our 10 transport users’ priorities for the next Mayor of London.”

Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT which represents the majority of London Underground (LU) station staff, said: “This is yet more evidence of the dangerous and and chronic overcrowding, of which this union has long warned, across the Tube network.

“It is embarrassing for London that a major international terminal like Victoria, which also of course includes the coach station, has been plunged into this type of chaos."

A TfL spokesperson said: “We are committed to improving the journeys of our Tube and rail customers and are investing billions of pounds to run more frequent services and increase the capacity of crowded stations.

“Customers who make relatively infrequent journeys have told us that they would also like more information to help them avoid the very busiest times where they have the flexibility to do so.

“We trialled this approach at a number of Tube stations last year and saw a reduction of up to 6 per cent in the number of customers travelling at the very busiest times.”