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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Kevin Rawlinson (now) and Matthew Weaver (earlier)

Tube strike: major disruption follows official end of London action – as it happened

London tube strike causes commuter chaos

Summary

You can read Gwyn Topham’s full piece on today’s travel disruption - and the efforts to avert yet more - here.

This live blog is now closing. My colleague Matthew Weaver provided a comprehensive summary of the day’s events this afternoon.

Since then, the strikes have officially ended - ceasing at 6pm. Some services have been running, while others have remained down - particularly in central London, where most stations are still seeing disrupted services. Transport for London have said some will not reopen at all until tomorrow, though a normal service is expected then.

Many people have been trying to make their way on buses and, consequently, there has been congestion on those services.

Many people are still struggling to get home now, two hours after the strike officially ended

Commuters attempt to board a red London bus near Charing Cross Underground station in London on 9 January 2017, after a 24-hour tube strike was set to end.
Commuters attempt to board a red London bus near Charing Cross Underground station in London on 9 January 2017, after a 24-hour tube strike was set to end. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

London Underground and the rail unions said they were prepared to resume talks later this week over safe staffing levels on the tube, after a day in which millions of commuters were affected by a strike across the network on Monday.

Reps from the TSSA union, who represent station staff, are meeting on Wednesday and talks could resume afterwards. Although unions have an ongoing mandate from a ballot in the autumn, allowing them to call further strikes in coming weeks, further industrial action is not expected, sources indicated.

Full tube services will be restored on Tuesday morning, but commuters in London’s suburbs and the south-east are braced for more disruption as train drivers, mainly in the Aslef union, along with some RMT members, strike on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and virtually no trains operating on the Southern network.

Tube stations throughout the centre were closed by the 24-hour walkout by staff in the TSSA and RMT unions which began at 6pm on Sunday night, leaving commuters to crowd onto trains or attempt to board busy buses slowed by gridlocked roads.

Limited Tube services ran in outer zones on the London Underground network that normally carries four millions passengers daily. Additional buses laid on by Transport for London did little to alleviate many journeys, with heavy traffic delaying their progress. Many turned to walking or cycling, with almost twice as many bikes from the capital’s cycle scheme hired than normal.

Most national rail services were running into the capital, although Southern remained disrupted by the effects of an overtime ban by train drivers. At one point, Clapham Junction, the country’s busiest interchange on a normal day, was evacuated because of overcrowding.

The full report from Gwyn Topham is coming shortly.

Some services are running at the moment, according to Transport for London. As the map below shows, however, most of the central London stations are still closed (the greyed-out areas are the stations where services are disrupted):

Tube map of the services that are and are not running as of 18:43
Tube map of the services that are and are not running as of 18:43 Photograph: London Underground
Screengrab of Transport for London services following the official end of the strike on 9 January 2017.
Screengrab of Transport for London services following the official end of the strike on 9 January 2017. Photograph: London Underground

Updated

Disruption is continuing in London, despite the fact the strike has officially ended:

Commuters wait outside a closed entrance to Oxford Circus tube station at the conclusion of a 24-hour strike by London Underground workers
Commuters wait outside a closed entrance to Oxford Circus tube station at the conclusion of a 24-hour strike by London Underground workers Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

As Londoners struggle to make it home following the official ending of the tube strike during the evening rush hour, the prime minister’s spokeswoman has condemned the action. “As with the Southern rail strikes, the prime minister thinks it is unfair to be creating disruption for people in such an unfair and unjustified way,” she has said.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, had earlier broken ranks with many of his Labour colleagues to attack the strikes.

Updated

Heavy traffic on the Embankment.
Heavy traffic on the Embankment. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

Here’s a video summary of the strike.

Londoners struggle with commute during tube strike

We’re going to pause the blog for now, but we will be posting updates on any major developments. In the meantime there is more at the London Underground section of the site. If you’re working in London, good luck getting home.

Summary

The strike is due to end at 6pm but it could be hours before services return to normal, so many London workers are bracing themselves for what could be a tough journey home.

Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far:

  • A strike by London Underground workers has created severe disruption and gridlocked roads as most central tube stations closed. The 24-hour tube strike started at 6pm on Sunday but is expected to hit services until the end of Monday.
  • Station staff in the RMT and TSSA unions walked out after last-minute talks aimed at limiting the impact of the industrial action ended unsuccessfully on Sunday. The dispute is over staffing levels and station closures.
  • Transport for London [TFL] said it was running a limited service on eight of its 11 tube lines on Monday and would open 69% of its stations across the network. The unions said the TFL’s figures were misleading. The TSSA said only 10 of the 270 stations were open.
  • Clapham Junction, the country’s busiest interchange on a normal day, was evacuated due to overcrowding as people looked for alternative ways to travel. A South West Trains spokesman said: “This is the worst crowding I’ve seen at Clapham Junction for many years.”
  • London mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the strike - the only senior figure in the Labour party to do so. He said the unions had “legitimate concerns” about lack of staff at some stations, but he did not offer to recruit anymore staff. Khan’s political opponents have said the strike shattered his election pledge to end TFL strikes.
  • Shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, expressed her support for the TSSA’s safety first message. John Leach, the RMT’s London regional organiser, claimed London Underground’s management privately also shared the union’s concerns about safety.
  • Both sides in the dispute said they were willing to return to return to talks. But the RMT said Transport for London should increase its offer over staffing levels. TSSA general secretary, Manuel Cortes, said while hiring more staff was a step in the right direction, “200 jobs cannot plug the gaping hole that’s been left in the system by devastating Tory attacks on TfL’s budget”.
  • There was a 149% increase in Santander cycle hires after extra bikes were put on in central London. An extra 150 buses were but many crowded bus journeys were delayed by an hour or more.
Finsbury Park - The tube strike in London closes stations and causes disruption to commuters.
Finsbury Park - The tube strike in London closes stations and causes disruption to commuters. Photograph: Dinendra Haria/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

The RMT has accused TFL of using misleading figures about the number of open stations by counting unstaffed stations as open.

Daniel Randall, one of its London representatives, said central London stations remained “shut down”.

TFL has since claimed that 69%, or 186 stations, are open.

Updated

TFL reports a 149% increase in Santander cycle hires after extra bikes were put on in central London.

At least two Tory politicians got on their bikes (or Boris’s).

Bus passengers are facing delays of up to an hour in central London, according to TFL.

Passengers themselves report longer delays.

Transport consultant Charlie Parker, from Movement Strategies, says the best long-term way to reduce tube strikes is greater automation. He said:

“Driverless trains are used successfully in dozens of cities across the world and London is lagging behind. Increasing automation in this way will not only increase the capacity of the network in the peak hour, but also reduce the impact of employee strikes. However, the timeline of introducing this will run into the decades – hardly comfort to those planning their return journey this evening.”

Updated

An RMT driver says that optimistic service updates from Transport for London should be treated with scepticism.

Writing on RMT London’s Facebook page, the driver says:

Last night the last Jubilee Line train in passenger service left Stratford around 9.30pm. An hour later, the TfL website is still saying ‘A good service operates on the Jubilee Line.’

If that is how accurate the info was following a planned early closure yesterday, how bad will it be today?

Updated

The Taxi app Uber is facing a backlash after charging over four times the normal rate for journeys during the strike, the Evening Standard reports.

The minicab app’s surge pricing model has brought significantly inflated prices amid increased demand during the industrial action which started yesterday evening.

The company said the “dynamic pricing” structure is used to ensure people “who need a ride can get one”.

Fares are increased automatically when there are not enough drivers and are based on pickup locations.

Angry Londoners hit out as some reported fares had jumped by more than 400% . The company was blasted for “cashing in on people’s misery”.

TfL: 69% of stations open

A few stations have opened, according to Transport for London.

It said that by lunchtime it was running a limited service on nine of 11 tube lines, with 69% (186) of stations open across the network, PA reports.

Updated

The RMT has avoided getting into the dispute about the number of stations hit by the strike.

The TSSA, which is also taking action, said only 10 of the 270 Underground stations were open, compared with the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who claimed 181 were open.

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, did not provide a number, but said: “The strike action is ‎being solidly supported on every line, at every station and on picket lines right across the tube network.”

He added: “The solution is in the hands of the mayor and ‎his officials. They need to come up with serious and urgent plans designed to address the core issues at the heart of this dispute and a schedule for staffing back-up on the stations to a level our reps believe is safe and sustainable.

RMT remains available for further talks around that programme of action.”

Updated

Rachel Obordo filmed part of her scooter ride from Hounslow to King’s Cross along the Euston Road.

She dodges past hundreds of gridlocked vehicles and commuters waiting for buses.

Updated

The RMT’s Daniel Randall has been tweeting from a picket line at King’s Cross on why his union and TSSA are taking the action.

In a series of exchanges with YouMustbeAnna, a London commuter and trainee solicitor, he sets out why the unions felt forced into industrial action.

Updated

Readers have been getting in touch with their stories of difficult journeys into work, writes Rachel Obordo.

Mike Staniforth, 37, from Harold Hill in east London, took the tube strike in his stride.

“I had to walk in from Liverpool Street this morning, but the vast numbers of people on the street meant it was slow going. One upside was that I’d done 7,304 steps by the time I got here and I was only 10 minutes late, much better than those that tried getting a bus!”

Benjamin, who’s interning at a property development company, found it a bit more complicated getting to central London from Shepherd’s Bush.

“I tried to take bus 49 to Hammersmith, and bus 9 to Green Park, however, after failing to get on three consecutive 49 buses because of the crowd at Shepherd’s Bush, I decided to take the C1 to Knightsbridge and walk from there. Of course, because of the strike, everyone had taken their car if they owned one. This meant that the bus took quite a long time stuck in traffic.

“I left home at 8.50am and arrived at work at 10am (I usually arrive around 9am). I saw many people not being able to get on to buses rush for the Boris bike stations. My boss is overall a very good guy, so he had no problem with my being late (especially when he saw the scope of the strike).”

Updated

Labour’s frontbench team have been fairly quiet about the strike. No senior figures from the party have condemned the action, with the notable exception of London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan. The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, has tweeted her support for the TSSA’s safety first message.

And Alex Wickham, news editor of the Guido Fawkes blog, spotted Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign manager Sam Tarry on a TSSA picket line.

There has been no shortage of Conservative MPs condemning the strike and Khan’s failure to prevent it.

The business minister Greg Hands said it was an “awful strike”.

Updated

LBC’s Rachel Venables has footage of Trafalgar Square at the peak of the rush hour (or the trough of the crush hour).

Updated

There have been widely differing accounts of the number of stations closed. BBC London says 120 of the 270, or 44%, of London Underground stations are closed. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said only a third were closed, as he thanked staff for keeping 67%, or 181, of the stations open. The TSSA union said the strike was solid, with only 10, or 3.7%, of the 270 stations open.

Updated

Here’s Gwyn Topham’s latest news report on the strike:

A strike by London Underground workers has left millions of commuters facing massive disruption and having to endure journeys on gridlocked roads, with most central tube stations closed and crowded rail and bus services elsewhere in the capital.

Transport for London said it was running a limited service on eight of its 11 tube lines on Monday and would open 60% of its stations across the network. But unions accused it of “dangerously exaggerating” the level of service available, leading people to expect to travel and causing overcrowding at stations.

Most national rail services were running into the capital, although Southern remained disrupted by the effects of an overtime ban by train drivers. Clapham Junction, the country’s busiest interchange on a normal day, was evacuated due to overcrowding as people looked for alternative ways to travel.

Here’s the queue for a bus at Liverpool Street, via Murray Burnell from BBC London.

And Georgina Stubbs from PA.

Updated

TSSA: Only 10 stations open

The TSSA union disputes Khan’s claim that 67% of stations have been kept open. It claims only 10 of the 270 stations are open.

The union’s general secretary, Manuel Cortes, says the strike is solid after a visit to several picket lines.

He said: “I pay tribute to my members whose commitment to public service is so strong they are now prepared to forego a day’s pay today and strike if that’s what it takes to warn the public that the tube is no longer being as safely run as it was this time last year. The strength of feeling on this issue is reflected in the solidity of the strike, with just a few trains running at the edges of the system.

“London Underground may tell you today that they are offering 600 jobs this year, but the tube sheds 400 jobs a year through natural wastage. In reality, the offer is just 200 and whilst it’s a step in the right direction, 200 jobs cannot plug the gaping hole that’s been left in the system by devastating Tory attacks on TfL’s budget.

“My members go to work every day proud to serve Londoners, proud to keep our city’s people transported. They are striking today to tell you that they can no longer transport you as safely as you, or they, would like and as safely as you were transported this time last year.

“Our negotiating team is available round the clock for talks with LU to resolve these matters.”

Updated

Khan: Two-thirds of stations open

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has thanked Transport for London staff for keeping two-thirds of stations open during the strike.

Updated

Google Trends has compiled the top five search questions on the strike.

Answers:

1. 6pm on Monday

2. Yes

3. Yes

4. Staffing and ticket office closures

5. Here’s how TFL currently describes the problems at Bank:

Central line: Service operating Ealing Broadway to White City, West Ruislip to North Acton, Epping to Liverpool Street, Hainault to Liverpool Street via Newbury Park and Hainault to Woodford. No service on the rest of the line. London Underground tickets are being accepted on London Buses and National Rail services via any reasonable route.

Northern line: Service operating Edgware to Golders Green, High Barnet to East Finchley and Old Street to Morden. No service on the rest of the line.

Updated

The Today programme suggested that Sadiq Khan was delayed for a radio interview because he was stuck in traffic. The Mirror reports that it was the BBC radio crew who got stuck.

While it was initially reported that the mayor was stuck in traffic, it later emerged that he had been on time to meet the BBC crew at London’s City Hall – after travelling into South Bermondsey by train and walking from there.

But the BBC crew did get stuck in traffic, which delayed the interview.

When he was finally connected with the Today programme studio, he said strikes were a sign of failure.

Updated

Andy Cook, head of the industrial relations consultancy firm Marshall-James, urges Transport for London not to give in to the unions.

He said:

“A key driver for this strike is the change of office to a Labour mayor; Labour are traditionally more accommodating and supportive of the unions, so Sadiq Khan is seen as an easy target to overturn previous decisions. What’s interesting is that lots of London Underground agreements are decades old and don’t reflect the modern world, for example, the Oyster card wasn’t in place when many original agreements were made. The number of people now traveling on London Underground and paying with cash has fallen, so subsequently less ticket offices are needed and less staff required in their traditional roles.

“Major change is needed to modernise the way the network operates so efficiencies can be made, but old collective agreements are in place that block these changes. The unions are fighting to protect these agreements and, in the past, where they have agreed changes, have negotiated large payments in return. This adds to the inefficiency. Many people who use the tube work in business themselves, and will have experienced their employers making efficiencies and increasing productivity on a regular basis.

“If management give in, the unions win and they will continue to be held to ransom every time change is necessary. There comes a time in all relationships where you need to stand firm.”

Updated

The car rental firm Sixt is trying to cash in on the strike. It emailed a Guardian colleague, urging him to “drive smug” and not to worry about cancelled trains.

Sixt tube strike email
Sixt tube strike email Photograph: Screengrab/Sixt

Updated

“Buses are busier than usual” is how TFL describes it.

Other descriptions are available...

Commuters queue at Victoria bus station
Commuters queue at Victoria bus station Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

More tales of travel woe, courtesy of PA:

Tracey Cooke, from Hertfordshire, who was waiting in line at Liverpool Street station for a cab, said there were no cars available through Uber or Addison Lee.

“When I got on the Stansted Express there were only four carriages - now I’ve been waiting for 45 minutes for a cab.”

She estimated she would be more than an hour late, adding that she could walk to Farringdon, but has a bad knee.

One man, who wished only to be named as Steve, was still waiting for a taxi at Liverpool Street at 8.45am, 15 minutes before he was due to be on the 9am train from King’s Cross to York. He rwas starting a new job today.

He said of the tube strike: “I did not know anything about it until yesterday afternoon.”

Local government worker Michael Gunning, 27, from Romford, said: “It is very annoying, it makes life hard.

“Normally I would be on a train and halfway there by now and be in work at 8am – now I’m probably not going to be in until at least 8.30am or 9am, I don’t know.”

He said he “kind of understands” why staff are striking, but that it “doesn’t make sense to people”.

“It makes people less sympathetic to them and it’s worse for their reputation.”

Margaret King, from Chelmsford, Essex, said: “I think it is atrocious, I do not agree. I do not like people striking at all.

“I just do not see the point in it, it’s not helping anyone who has to travel to get to work.”

Dr Simon Quantrill lives in Clapham and usually cycles part of his journey, but said today’s journey had taken him “much longer than it normally would”.

“It is really scary out there, cyclists are taking huge chances. The traffic is mad, the whole way up - especially around London Bridge and onwards.”

The 50-year-old said he supports the strike: “I do not agree with cutting working staff at the stations ... people do not want to go on strike. They don’t get paid.”

Updated

Transport for London put on 150 extra buses to help cope with the extra demand (and add to the gridlock).

They include a number of vintage models to excite the bus spotters.

A commuter wipes condensation from the window of an extra bus put on to help with capacity during a 24-hour tube strike.
A commuter wipes condensation from the window of an extra bus put on to help with capacity during a 24-hour tube strike. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

If you’ve been affected by the strike we’d like to hear from you. Are you taking a longer, more complicated route into work? Has your employer been understanding about travel difficulties? We’d also like to hear from you if you’re staying at home. Or if you’re striking, let us know why.

You can share your experiences, photos and videos with us by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ button on the blog or by filling in our form here.

Updated

Publishing editor Catherine Allison, 25, was trying to reach Shepherd’s Bush station when she was caught up in the huge crowds at Clapham Junction.

She told the Press Association that an evacuation was called at around 8.50am due to the number of people there, and it took her around 15 minutes to leave.

“There was complete gridlock in the station as they weren’t letting passengers enter platforms from the underpass,” Allison said.

“There was a huge queue in the overhead walkway. I was queuing for 40 minutes to get to my platform, then they announced the entire station was being evacuated for passenger safety due to overcrowding.

“There are people still trying to enter. And there are some people in there having heated conversations with staff. Many people seem to be waiting outside in case it re-opens any time soon.”

Commuters at Clapham Junction
Commuters at Clapham Junction Photograph: Hayley Lancefield/PA

Updated

The strike continues to play havoc with the BBC’s interview plans. Start the Week had planned to feature a discussion between host Andrew Marr and the writers Martin Sixsmith, Chibundu Onuzo, Laurence Cockcroft and Oladipo Agboluaje.

But at the start of the show only Sixmith had turned up. It provided the former BBC correspondent and New Labour spin doctor with an unusually long stint to promote his new book. The other guests were stuck in traffic.

Updated

The Press Association has more on the evacuation at Clapham Junction due to “severe overcrowding”.

No trains were stopping at the station, which is normally served by trains to and from London Victoria and London Waterloo.

A South West Trains spokesman said: “This is the worst crowding I’ve seen at Clapham Junction for many years – no amount of planning can mitigate for this.”

More than 30 million passengers changed trains at the station in 2015-16, according to Office of Rail and Road figures, making it Britain’s busiest interchange station.

Updated

Ukip and the Conservatives have criticised Khan’s failure to prevent the strike.

The Ukip London Assembly member David Kurten said it had shattered Khan’s election pledge to end strikes on TFL.

Conservative central office pointed out that the TSSA union, which is involved in the dispute, donated more than £15,000 to Khan’s mayoral campaign.

Updated

Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

In his Today programme interview Khan said he wanted to continue talking to the unions, but he made no new offers on staffing.

He said: “I accept the argument that we need more staff on the London Underground. Already we have created 200 new posts and want to carry on talking if the trade unions are unhappy.”

Asked if the strike was his responsibility, the mayor said: “We all have to take our fair share of responsibility. I think strikes ultimately are a sign of failure. This strike is completely unnecessary. All strikes can be called off and averted if reasonable minds get round a table and resolve things amicably ... I condemn these strikes.

He added:

We offered to talk to the trade unions, we spent all weekend talking to them. This is a historic dispute that began under Boris Johnson, huge progress has been made. Why strike? Why not resolve these things amicably?

These ticket offices closed down early last year. I was only elected in May. I asked the independent TravelWatch to undertake an independent review. They came back in December. We have been having good discussions with the trade unions and I think those discussions should have carried on.

If we are still some distance apart, the way to resolve that is not by going on strike. Millions of Londoners have suffered a miserable journey into work today. We are losing millions of pounds with London businesses, patients can’t reach appointments, people with job interviews can’t reach job interviews and it is completely unnecessary.

There is a legitimate concern about lack of staff at some stations. That is a legitimate concern that trade unions have raise with me. And I’m responding to that by making sure that all the recommendations of the independent watchdog are implemented, but also offering up 200 new posts and additional staff north of 600. That shows the progress we made and that’s the difference talking can make.

Updated

My colleague Nadia Khomami took an Uber taxi from North Finchley to the Guardian’s Kings Cross office. The journey took more than two hours and it cost her £55.23.

Clapham Junction evacuated due to overcrowding

Clapham Junction has been evacuated because of overcrowding, Southern rail has announced.

This was the scene at the station before it was closed.

Updated

Here’s an audio recording of that interview with Khan:

The Today programme has finally got through to the mayor, Sadiq Khan, who said the strike was completely unnecessary. He said he accepted the union’s argument that stations needed more staff. “There is a legitimate concern about the lack of staff at stations.” However, he said, discussions should have continued. “The solution is not to go on strike.”

Updated

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, had been due to be interviewed by the Today programme at 8.30am, but either he, or the broadcaster’s radio car, is stuck in traffic.

Gridlock hasn’t stopped the mayor tweeting criticism of the strike.

Updated

Transport for London said it was running limited services on eight out of 11 tube lines and expected 60% of stations to open across the network.

Here’s its latest update:

TfL staff are working hard to keep customers informed and ensure London keeps moving and remains open for business today. However, customers are advised that although the strike ends at 6pm services are expected to be disrupted throughout the day and evening and journeys should be completed by 6pm.

For customers travelling to Canary Wharf from central London, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) services are running, however they will be busier than usual. Enhanced river services are linking central London and Canary Wharf.

Buses, roads and rail services are expected to be much busier than usual, particularly those bus routes serving major interchange stations. TfL is deploying travel ambassadors in order to help customers get around the city and around 150 extra buses are deployed to enhance existing routes.

Although National Rail services are not affected by the strike there are no underground services from key interchange stations such as Victoria, King’s Cross, Waterloo, Paddington, Euston, Bank and London Bridge.

There are no services at all on the Victoria or Waterloo & City lines.

Updated

Gridlock has hit central London’s streets, as this aerial footage shows.

Manuel Cortes
Manuel Cortes Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

The TSSA general secretary, Manuel Cortes, has repeated the union’s rejection of London Underground’s staff offer.

The strength of feeling on this issue is reflected in the solidity of the strike, with just a few trains running at the edges of the system.

London Underground may tell you today that they are offering 600 jobs this year, but the tube sheds 400 jobs a year through natural wastage.

In reality the offer is just 200 and whilst it’s a step in the right direction, 200 jobs cannot plug the gaping hole that’s been left in the system by devastating Tory attacks on TfL’s budget.

Tory chancellor George Osborne cut £700m from the central government operating grant to Transport for London in November 2015.

Tory mayor Boris Johnson welcomed the cuts and within six months abolished 800 tube jobs, closed ticket offices and the subsequent ‘new work practices’ introduced under his regime have been so brutal they have led to a further exodus of staff from the service.

Put quite simply, these level of cuts are not compatible with a safely run, properly staffed tube and my members are now highly anxious about the impact this is having and will continue to have on their ability to keep you safe.

Our overtime ban of the last month has demonstrated effectively that there are no longer enough tube staff employed to keep the networks’ 270 tube stations open.

Updated

London Underground has repeated its pledge to recruit extra staff – an offer rejected as not enough by the unions.

Steve Griffiths, the chief operating officer for London Underground, said:

This strike, called by the leadership of the RMT and TSSA unions, is unnecessary. We had always intended to review staffing levels and have had constructive discussions with the unions.

We agree that we need more staff in our stations and have already started to recruit 200 extra staff and this is likely to increase further as we work through the other areas that need to be addressed. Taking into account existing vacancies and natural turnover this means that over 600 staff will be recruited for stations this year.

There will also be increased opportunities for promotion. All of this will ensure that our customers feel safe, fully supported and able to access the right assistance in our stations at all times. We encourage the unions to continue working with us on this process and the only way to resolve this dispute is to keep talking about how to improve our stations.

Updated

My boss, Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s head of news, is one of those struggling into work.

John Leach, the RMT’s London regional organiser, claimed London Underground’s management privately shared the union’s concerns about safety, but had been overruled at a more senior level.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme outside Piccadilly Circus underground station, he said: “London Underground management at an operational level know we are right, they agree with us on the safety issues, but could never openly say so. But at a director level and above they tell us they have got no money. That’s not acceptable, because the 4 million people who use London Underground every day are entitled to a safe tube.”

He said the unions were prepared to return to talks tomorrow but urged Transport for London to table a fresh offer.

Leach said: “We will be back round the table with TFL tomorrow or whenever they want, but they need to come back and have a fresh approach and not just keep reissuing the same offer which is what we had for a week.”

Leach said the unions regretted taking the action, but insisted that carrying a million more people a day with 800 fewer staff didn’t work.

“The fundamental issue is last year London Underground, under the previous mayor’s instructions, imposed the reduction in frontline available uniformed staff on station by 834 and decided to close a number of station control rooms. That has had a devastating impact on the safe running of the underground – it’s falling apart at the seams, on a daily basis, stations close, overcrowded incidents. They are just about getting away with it. And the impact on the staff that were left behind has been crushing. We have tried to make it work for nine months and it just won’t.”

“We’ve re balloted, we gave ourselves three weeks of talks but I’m afraid we’re up against a brick wall, which is one of basically, there’s no resources there to fix the problem.”

Updated

Summary

Welcome to our live coverage of the 24-hour strike on London Underground as millions of people face a tough journey into work with most central stations closed and all lines hit.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) started the walkout at 6pm on Sunday in a dispute over staffing and ticket office closures.

Transport for London advised passengers there would be a severely reduced service across the tube network all day on Monday.

Piccadilly line services would run between Hammersmith and Heathrow terminals 1, 2 and 3, but there would be no service to terminals 4 or 5.

There would be no service at all on the Victoria or Waterloo & City lines, and all other lines would be severely affected, with limited services in outer London.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, criticised the industrial action and called on the unions to return to the negotiating table.


The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “Our members are out in force across London Underground this morning in the fight for jobs and safety. The strike action is being solidly supported on every line, at every station and on picket lines right across the tube network.”


Cash added:

This action has been forced on us by savage cuts to jobs that have reduced London Underground to an under-staffed death trap at a time of heightened security and safety alert.

RMT members will not stand idly by while they see day in and day out the safety regime on the tube being slashed to ribbons. Even senior tube bosses have admitted that we are absolutely correct in our assessment of the risks that are being taken as the impact of the 900 station job cuts hits home.

The solution is in the hands of the mayor and his officials. They need to come up with serious and urgent plans designed to address the core issues at the heart of this dispute and a schedule for staffing backup on the stations to a level our reps believe is safe and sustainable. RMT remains available for further talks around that programme of action.


The TSSA general secretary, Manuel Cortes, joined union members on picket lines.

Steve Griffiths, the chief operating officer for London Underground, said:

There is no need to strike. We had always intended to review staffing levels and have had constructive discussions with the unions.

We agree that we need more staff in our stations and have already started to recruit 200 extra staff and that is likely to increase further as we work through the other areas that need to be addressed.

Taking into account existing vacancies and natural turnover this means that over 600 staff will be recruited for stations this year. There will also be increased opportunities for promotion.

Updated

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