Sadiq Khan has admitted "dropping the ball" on the new Woolwich Ferries and has publicly apologised after a year of technical faults, delays and strikes.

Speaking on LBC, the London mayor has admitted that the ferries, which were brought in last year at a cost of £20 million, "aren't good enough."

The Woolwich ferry service has been plagued by technical problems with the generators and 'intelligent docking locking systems', causing major disruption for the 20,000 vehicles that use the free Thames crossing service each week.

The number of faults led to staff going on strike throughout May and June in protest against health and safety standards.

Despite the high-tech mooring systems installed at Woolwich and North Woolwich piers, the running time lost to delays is the equivalent to an entire month worth of hours.

In an interview with James O'Brien, Mr Khan said: "Hands up, we've dropped the ball on this. They were supposed to be good enough, but they haven't been.

"Thousands of people have been inconvenienced. We think we've turned the corner, but can I apologise to all those affected by this.

"TfL have to put our hands up and admit these problems should have been sorted out in the factory, not in the River Thames."

He said that whilst the ferries are energy efficient hybrids, there had been basic problems in how they dock on to one side of the river compared to the other.

The ferries cost £9.7 million each, bought to offer a cleaner alternative to the old system whilst also replacing three boats with two.

Khan added: "The manufacturers are trying to rectify the problems.

"The contract for the company that runs the ferry comes up for renewal very shortly.

"One of the things I will look into is whether us TfL should be running the ferry rather than the private company."