Tube strike – latest: London brought to a standstill as TfL workers walk out for 24 hours

A picture taken by a commuter at London’s Tottenham Court Road underground station at 8am on Wednesday morning (15 March) shows scores of commuters crammed underground as industrial action across the capital shuts down the London tube network.

One passenger tweeting about his experience wrote: “This is beyond unacceptable @TfL.

“We’re told that we can’t exit from Tottenham Court Road Station exit and are forced to exit via Dean Street only to be compressed into each other like sardines. How does this make any sense?”

Almost all London tube services are suspended as a result of strike action, although the Elizabeth line, DLR, tram and bus services are operational.

There are currently minor delays on the London Overground network.

Tottenham Court Road is served by the Central, Northern line (Charing Cross branch) and Elizabeth line.

Of these, only the Elizabeth line is running today.

Transport for London (TfL) warned commuters that “disruption should be expected on the tube network” into Thursday morning.

Services that are operating are unextremely oversubscribed.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has congratulated London underground staff who have chosen to strike today.

Over 10,000 RMT members, along with members of the train drivers union Aslef, have shut down the capital’s transport network today (15 March) in a dispute over working arrangements, job cuts and pensions.

Workers from across London Underground set up picket lines across most major tube stations, ensuring that the London Underground was completely shutdown.

RMT joins several unions taking strike action today across the economy on a variety of industrial matters, including better pay, good working conditions and job security.

The union wrote to London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday outlining how job cuts must be halted and that safety of the travelling public was foremost in tube workers minds.

Mick Lynch said: “I congratulate all our London Underground members who have taken part in this strike action today.

“It shows how determined we are to reach a negotiated settlement to this long running dispute.

“Attacks on pensions, conditions and job losses will not be tolerated and the travelling public needs to understand that understaffed and unstaffed stations are unsafe.

“We will continue our industrial campaign for as long as it takes.”

According to Transport for London (TfL), the tube handles up to five million passenger journeys a day.

At peak times, there are more than 543 trains whizzing around London.

While many workers across the capital have made plans to work from home, not everyone is so lucky.

Pictures show huge queues of commuters trying to reach their destination on London’s oversubscribed bus services, in the wake of this morning’s strike.

London taxi drivers are also benefiting from the strike, with long queues seen at ranks around the capital.

“Budget day is normally a quiet day for Londons hard pressed cabbies,” wrote one London cabbie.

“But,the London Underground strike will put a smile on their faces!”

Aslef district organiser Finn Brennan confirmed that today’s strike is the first time Aslef have taken action across the Underground since 2015.

He stated that 99% of members voted in favour of the strike.

“It is not a strike about pay, it is not a strike looking for more time off,” he said.

“We simply want TfL to commit to negotiate with us about changes instead of trying to impose changes.

“There is a huge hole in TfL’s budget as a result of the pandemic and they want to fill that by cutting staff numbers, cutting working conditions and crucially cutting staff pensions.

“We have always said we are prepared to negotiate change but, quite understandably and quite rightly, our members are not prepared to pay the price for the hole that has been left in TfL’s budget by the Government’s failure to properly fund public transport in London.”

He added that further strikes are “very likely”.