Unions fail to bring London to a halt

Over 30 per cent of services are operating, with work under way to operate more services as soon as possible.

All of London's key stations are operating, including Euston, Waterloo, Clapham North, Heathrow, King's Cross, Finsbury Park, Paddington, Earl's Court and Whitechapel.

Ahead of the strike, TSSA union leader Gerry Doherty predicted that London would be 'paralysed' by the action.

This prediction has not been borne out, with services currently operating as follows:

• A good service is operating on the Northern line, although some stations are currently closed
• The Bakerloo line is operating between Queen's Park and Elephant & Castle
• The Victoria line is operating between Seven Sisters and Brixton
• The Jubilee line is operating between Wembley Park and Stratford, with some stations currently closed
• The District line is operating between Wimbledon/Ealing Broadway in the west and Barking in the east
• On The Metropolitan line, trains are operating between Amersham/Uxbridge and Baker Street with some stations closed
• The Piccadilly line is operating a service between Acton Town and Heathrow 123
• The Hammersmith & City line is operating between Shepherd's Bush Market and Baker Street
• LU are working to establish a service on the Central line

The situation is changing rapidly, with other Tube services operating services when possible.

Disruption is possible, and passengers are advised to check before travelling at www.tfl.gov.uk

Good services are operating on the bus network, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), and London Overground.

Extra bus services have been provided, along with extra capacity for an additional 10,000 journeys on river services and marshalled taxi ranks.

Volunteers are on hand at bus, Tube, and rail stations to help passengers and distribute walking maps and other useful information.

Paralysis failed to materialise

Howard Collins, Chief Operating Officer of LU, said: 'We are doing everything to run as many Tube services as possible and, although Londoners will doubtless face some disruption getting to work, 75 per cent of stations are open and 30 per cent of Tube trains are running.

'The paralysis of London predicted by the leadership of two unions has failed to materialise.

'It is incredible that the two union leaderships have pursued this action when they have been given cast-iron assurances that the staffing changes we are making come with no compulsory redundancies or loss of earnings, that every station that currently has a ticket office will retain one, and that every station will remain staffed at all times. They should now see sense, and call off this pointless strike.'

Notes to editors:

• Some LU ticket offices now regularly sell fewer than 10 tickets an hour. The quietest ticket offices include North Ealing, which sells under six tickets per hour, and Latimer Road and Moor Park, which sell only around seven tickets per hour
• Overall, sales from ticket offices are down 28 per cent over the last four years as more and more people switch to Oyster, just one in 20 Tube journeys now starts with a visit to a ticket office
• Under LU's proposals staff will be more effectively deployed to areas of stations where they can better assist customers, removing duplication of roles whilst delivering the best possible value for fare and taxpayers
• The proposed changes would mean a reduction in the total number of posts across LU, but will involve no compulsory redundancies, and will have no impact on the Tube's high safety standards
• The changes would not affect Tube drivers, and the majority of the roughly 800 posts that are identified for reduction are ticket office staff; this also includes a saving of around 150 posts from reductions in management and administrative staff. This is out of a total of around 19,000 LU staff, so represents less than five per cent of the workforce. Some 250 positions are already, or are expected to become vacant, so these would merely not be filled