London crippled by 'rock solid' Tube strike

By Alex Stevenson

London has ground to a halt in this morning's rush hour, amid severe disruption to Tube services as a result of the ongoing London Underground strike.

The RMT and TSSA unions, who organised the walkout in opposition to Boris Johnson's plans to shut ticket offices and scrap hundreds of jobs in the process, have mounted a public relations campaign as the nation's capital struggles through the first full day of the strike.

"As we expected the action is rock solid this morning and has reduced the network to a skeleton service with only a few ghost trains running through closed stations," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.

"That is simply a reflection of the staff anger at attempts to bulldoze through cuts to jobs, services and safety which would reduce the Tube to a dangerous, hollowed-out shell.

"No one can now question the determination of the Tube workforce in the face of the mayor's cuts plans."

Johnson had signed a petition in 2008 opposing his predecessor Ken Livingstone's plans to close 40 ticket offices.

He then promised in 2010 that he would not close any ticket offices at all during his time as mayor.

Now though, Johnson wants to shut them all down in order to pay for his plans to make the Tube a 24-hour service.

"Many thousands of London Underground and Transport for London (TfL) staff are working flat out today to help our customers and to keep London working in the face of this pointless action by the RMT and TSSA leaderships," a TfL spokesperson said.

"We thank Londoners for their patience during what will undoubtedly be some difficult journeys today."

The RMT released a poll suggesting that disgruntled commuters support the strike. Two-thirds said they were concerned with the mayor's plans, while 65% thought lawful industrial action as a last resort was justified.

Johnson himself insisted earlier it was essential that the tube be modernised and automated.

"We need to take advantage of new technology, automatic payment systems, which will enable us to save hundreds of millions of pounds that we can put into more track, signalling and allow them to run 24 hours," he said.

The 48-hour strike began at 21:00 GMT on Tuesday and has already seen large crowds of frustrated passengers gathering at ticket barriers across London.

David Cameron tweeted yesterday: "Bob Crow's Tube strike is shameful, bringing misery to millions of Londoners. Ed Miliband should condemn it now: no 'ifs' and no 'buts'."

He is likely to repeat the partisan point in prime minister's questions this lunchtime.

The impact of the strike on the capital's economy is a concern for hundreds of firms.

John Allan, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Just as the economy is starting to pick up, small firms are naturally deeply concerned about the impact strike action will have on their ability to do business."

Estimates suggest each day of the strike could cost £50 million – the same amount of money Johnson is hoping to save as a result of the job cuts.