Tube chaos continues following London Underground strike
Services are expected to return to normal by mid-morning
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Your support makes all the difference.The knock-on effect from Thursday’s Tube strike has seen chaos for London commuters continue into Friday morning.
As of 8.15am, the Piccadilly and District lines remained suspended, the Bakerloo line part suspended, and the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Jubilee lines were all experiencing severe delays.
A good service is currently operating on all other lines.
Transport for London (TfL) has said of this morning’s travel: “Services affected by Thursday’s strikes are expected to return to normal by mid-morning”, and is advising travellers to check before beginning their journeys.
“Tube strike was yesterday. Piccadilly line still not open at 8.10 the day after. @MayorofLondon maybe London isn’t as open as you thought!” tweeted user @littlegreydog3.
Grace Nakate posted on the social media site: “It would appear the tube strike is still in place for the #Piccadillyline The station doors are still closed well after 8am and only approximates are being announced for the doors to open around 8.30am. #TFL Bus it to Heathrow if you can’t drive.”
Large queues for buses were reported on Friday morning as commuters tried to get into work during rush hour.
It follows yesterday’s 24-hour Tube strike during which nearly the entire London Underground network was shut down, leaving Londoners unable to get to work.
Buses and London Overground services, which continued to operate, were extremely busy, while those using Santander bikes to get around the city struggled to find docking stations to park up in.
TfL workers went on strike over working conditions, including jobs and pensions.
A spokesperson for RMT Union said in a statement: “LUL [London Underground Limited] and TfL management have consistently refused to engage in discussions around safeguarding jobs, pensions and conditions on the spurious grounds that they are unable to give any assurances to our members until they have a financial settlement with the government.”
Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said: “Our members are resolute in their determination to see a just settlement to this jobs and pensions dispute. And they will continue their industrial campaign for as long as it takes.
“TfL need to start making compromises and work with the union to reach a deal that works for staff and avoids further disruption to the lives of passengers.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who is also chair of TfL, said he had repeatedly asked the unions to call off the strike and find a resolution with TfL.
He added that he would “not support any unfair changes to pensions that attack the terms and conditions of transport workers”.
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