London 'Tube' strike on Sunday

A 24-hour strike by thousands of London Underground workers will go ahead from Sunday evening after hopes of a peace deal over job losses collapsed today.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) said their members will walk out at 6.30pm on Sunday, threatening travel chaos for commuters and other passengers.

It will be the fourth 24-hour stoppage in recent weeks in a worsening row over 800 job losses in ticket offices.

Talks at the conciliation service Acas ended last night without a breakthrough and union leaders said today they had effectively broken down, ending any hopes of a last minute deal.

London's mayor and Transport for London (TfL) set out a range of transport measures that will supplement Tube services to help people travel around the capital, including 100 extra buses and capacity for around 10,000 more journeys on the River Thames.

London Underground (LU) said it ran 40% of its normal services during the strike on November 3, rising to 50% for large parts of the day, carrying around half its normal passenger numbers.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow accused the company of "intransigence" after the union offered to suspend industrial action if management agreed to review the job cuts and their impact on stations.

He said there were fresh delays on the Circle and District lines this morning, adding: "The unprecedented and continuing chaos on the Tube has hit services again as the combined impact of maintenance cuts and failing infrastructure is rammed home.

"This daily crisis will only get worse unless there is an immediate halt to the cuts programme and urgent top-level talks with the unions to map a way forward from this chaos."

The TSSA detailed a list of 10 incidents where it claimed Tube trains stopped at closed stations during strikes and wrongly allowed passengers to "wander off" before the driver realised he should have kept the carriage doors shut.

The worst incident was at Canada Water during the second strike on October 4 when the union claimed that up to 40 passengers found themselves locked in the station for 40 minutes after leaving their Tube train which should not have stopped.

They eventually found a stairway that led up to the local bus garage, said TSSA.

"We are very concerned about the safety implications of passengers being left stranded at locked and unmanned stations," said general secretary Gerry Doherty.

"We are highlighting the problem today because we do not want to see any repetition of those incidents during Monday's walkout.

"It is high time that the mayor got a firm grip on which stations are open and which stations are closed during the strikes.

"We have given him enough notice of these walkouts, which allows him to run a limited service with passengers being told quite clearly which stations are closed and where passengers should clearly not be allowed to exit those trains."