UK heatwave LIVE as June temperature record broken and Met Office extends rare red warning

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the capital and the country had not adapted to deal with climate change and urged the public to “bear with us” as they face public transport delays during the heatwave.

Speaking as he visited The Aldgate School in London to announce the results of an air quality report, he said: “What used to be a once in a generation occurrence, events of biblical proportions, now takes place every year, whether it’s heatwaves, whether it’s flash flooding, whether it’s lightning, whether it’s thunder – we as a city, we as a country, haven’t adapted to be resilient to the consequences of man-made climate change.”

He continued: “People across the country can expect to see delays in public transport today, tomorrow and the rest of this week that’s a consequence of the extreme heat.

“People across the country I am afraid will have to bear with us – our public transport system is not made for temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius.”

Mr Khan added: “Forty per cent of Tubes are now air conditioned with more going forward. I will be publishing very soon a plan of what more we need to do to deal with heat.”

He added the school’s headteacher had told him: “One of the reasons they have kept this school open is because actually for many of the kids who come to this school, this school is cooler than their home.”