A petition to save the number 13 bus route has been handed to City Hall by Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Party campaigners - setting up local members for a clash with Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has the final say on proposed changes.

The petition, which has rapidly gathered more than a thousand signatures, calls on Transport for London (TfL) to reconsider its plans to rename the 82 bus the 13, and remove the 13 bus route - which TfL admits will reduce the frequency of buses along Finchley Road.

TfL consulted on a similar proposal last year, with former Mayor Boris Johnson eventually scrapping plans after a public outcry.

But TfL has just closed a second consultation on an almost identical proposal to scrap the route of the popular number 13 bus, which runs from Golders Green to Aldwych.

Campaign organiser Tara Aleck has called TfL’s latest proposal “confusing” because she said people are under the impression it is only the name of the route that is set to change - when in fact the new route set to terminate in Victoria instead of Aldwych.

She said: “People were very surprised when we were explaining the changes to them, because they thought they had saved the 13 after the campaign last year.”

Barnet and Camden Assembly Member Andrew Dismore, who campaigned against the changes mooted last year until TfL backed down, submitted the petition to City Hall this week.

He said: “In my opinion, TfL want to reduce bus routes along Finchley Road to reduce traffic after they try to implement Cycle Superhighway 11, and have to divert fewer bus routes from Oxford Street, in anticipation of pedestrianisation.

“It is an extremely important bus service for residents of north-west London to get to central London, passing through many popular destinations, such as Baker Street, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and The Strand.”

The petition will be formally presented to the London Assembly at a meeting next month.