EXTENDING a bus route from Sudbury to a Harrow hospital would not be “good value for money”, according to the London Mayor.

Boris Johnson was asked by Navin Shah, London Assembly member for Brent and Harrow, about the possibility of running the number 18 as far as Northwick Park Hospital, in Watford Road.

Mr Shah told the Mayor's Question Time meeting how residents had contacted him to say they found changing buses “difficult” and were in “desperate need of a solution”.

But Mr Johnson, who chairs the board of Transport for London (TfL), said the £1.3m annual price tag would be too high.

He said: “There is an existing high-frequency service on route 182 and convenient interchange between routes 18 and 182, at the same stop in many cases.

“Therefore, extending route 18 to the hospital would not represent good value for money.”

Mr Shah said: “I understand that previously this has been dismissed because route 182 already serves the Hospital.

“However, the interchange between route 18 and 182 is difficult and patients and visitors to the hospital are in desperate need of a simpler solution.

“They would like the Mayor to extend route 18 to Northwick Park Hospital.”