Tube Strike starts this evening

In case you've been living on the Moon, by now you'll know that 24 hour London Underground strikes will begin from tonight 6th September. In a nutshell Tube maintenance staff begin their strike at 5pm. It's unlikely you'll experience severe disruption at that time, more of a winding down. Drivers who were due to start their evening shifts will not clock on.

Station staff, drivers and signallers will start their strike at 9pm tonight.


It's impossible to predict the impact this will have on the service, but all lines are likely to be affected.

Blog Penalty Fares claim to have internal First Capital Connect memo where London Underground outline predicted service patterns on the lines. However, you should really check TfL's site and live travel news for the latest information.

Meanwhile RMT are up in arms at TfL's attempts to get volunteers to help people's travel plans. TfL's website says these volunteers are "on hand at key stations to give alternative travel options and otherwise assist passengers."

However, the RMT state "In a circular to staff desperately appealing for volunteers to help try and run some skeleton services LU say that those without the required Operational Licences will still be deployed and that those with lapsed licenses can have them renewed without complying with the normal training and updating programme ... the latest safety breaches go to the very heart of the dispute which is all about London Underground hacking back staffing levels and cutting corners on safety in a dash to slash costs regardless of the implications for the travelling public.."


I came across a video produced by the RMT with the union leaders justifying their strike action. Maybe it's just me but there seems to be very little discussion about safety. Bob Crow says towards the end "If you don't fight this you've lost. We'll lose the 800 jobs and they'll turn around at Broadway and say there ain't much fight in that lot". A pretty different Crow to the talks about safety supposedly at the heart of his more recent releases.

Good luck to everyone making their way home tonight and getting around tomorrow. Remember that the staff you see during the strike will be doing their best to help you and deserve your co-operation and support.

Please let us know how you get on with your journeys and how you managed to get on.