Today she is weighing up her options after being offered a chance to work alongside Ken Livingstone to improve public transport in the capital - an issue she concentrated on in her bid to become mayor.

But running as the Liberal Democrat's mayoral candidate was not on the 49-year-old banker's list of priorities after she failed to gain the Dulwich and West Norwood parliamentary seat in 1997 or a place in the Euro elections in 1999.

Her impetus came after she experienced another nightmare journey home to Barnes on the Piccadilly line.

"That night when I got home I rang Liberal Democrat headquarters and asked for a nomination form. I didn't expect to be the winning candidate."

Susan Kramer became the first candidate to stand for the Mayor's job. While the Conservatives and Labour Party candidates were surrounded in controversy, Mrs Kramer, 49, was out on the streets finding out what makes people tick.

Her campaign immediately became a family affair. Jonathan, 25, worked alongside his mother on the campaign trail and husband John joined the team at the weekend.

Now the race is over, she may go back to working with her husband or look again at campaign issues such as community banking.

Following the result she headed out to the country with her family for a few days and undertook a major spring clean of the house.

"In a sense it's really nice to go back to a much more human pace," she said.