The Labour Party Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has condemned a strikes on London’s underground rail network that has seen significant disruption to commuters in the city.
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Millions of London commuters endured a miserable journey to work on Monday morning as a 24-hour strike by transport workers in the United Kingdom capital hit services hard.
Travel chaos is set to continue this evening after today’s tube strike, with Transport for London (TfL) “strongly advising” commuters to avoid peak times.
The dispute centres around the ticket office closure programme that was completed in early 2016.
Hundreds of passengers queued for buses outside Victoria station this morning as tube staff went on strike over jobs and ticket office closures.
The unions said there were safety fears about the running of the tube, including concerns over overcrowding, monitoring of stations and trains, and the personal safety of staff working alone.
Several central London subway lines were closed during rush hour on Monday morning (local time), forcing many to walk, use overcrowded buses, or work from home.
This has just been a 24-hour strike, but Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Gordon, says the cost of the industrial action to the capital will still be substantial – pinning it at £90m.
“It is clear that some more staff for stations are needed”.
“We had always meant to review staffing levels and have had constructive discussions with the unions”.
Dan Delaney, from Rayleigh, believes the strike serves no objective and undermines the unions’ argument.
But controversial RMT leader Mike Cash has insisted the strike “remains on”, adding: “The ball remains in LU’s court and while the RMT remains available for talks it is down to the company to come back into the process with serious proposals”.
Charles March, from Canvey, described the situation as “ridiculous”, believing passengers trying to negotiate the chaos was a lost cause.
Tube strikes aren’t uncommon in London.
A spokesperson for Uber told Sun Online: “The company’s pricing is to ensure that you can get a vehicle no matter what”.
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Police officers were on hand to keep the peace while special TfL response teams helped commuters work out the best way to get to work.
