Tube strike January 2017: Furious Londoners plan for travel misery as 24-hour TfL strike begins

Francesca Gillett9 January 2017

Angry Londoners spent Sunday evening preparing for travel misery as a Tube strike brought the capital to a standstill.

The walkout, which is expected to shut nearly all Zone 1 stations, began at 6pm on Sunday and will continue until the end of Monday.

Up to 4,000 Tube station and ticket workers are walking out in a hostile dispute over job cuts and the closure of tickets offices.

On Sunday night many frustrated Londoners hit out at the planned strike and complained of being faced with major disruption in just the second working week of the year.

Many commuters said they would work from home or take the day off while others expressed their dread at the “Monday morning mayhem” which awaited.

Demi Kaye said: “The thought of commuting tomorrow with the #TubeStrike makes me feel SICK” while Jake Palmer called it "pure stress".

Hollie Robinson said: “This Tube strike is so confusing – I have no idea how I’m going to get into work.”

Tube Strike: 9th January 2017

1/27

Other workers began planning alternative – and more healthier – ways of getting into work, with many people also mentioning Uber might be a popular choice,

One Twitter user, called Tom, said: “Don’t have a rucksack, have to borrow wife’s to run with.”

Workers on the London Underground network also shared their thoughts on the strike with one urging passengers not to "take it out on me".

Donna Redding, who said she works at Blackfriars station, said: "Bound to be irate passengers...please don't take it out on me. I am trying to do my job in a positive and good manner. Thank you."

A statement on the TfL website has requested London commuters to “please be patient with the transport staff who are at work and trying to help customers get around” during the walk-out.

“If you are able to change your travel time, you are strongly advised to travel outside peak hours,” the statement adds. “Please allow more time for your journey.”

Some Twitter users supported the unions' cause and hit out the furious messages from Londoners.

Unions the TSSA and the RMT Union are striking over job cuts and ticket office closures brough in under former Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Last-ditch weekend peace talks between union leaders and transport bosses collapsed without a deal.

Steve Griffiths, chief operating officer for London Underground, said: “There is no need to strike.

"We had always intended to review staffing levels and have had constructive discussions with the unions.

"We agree that we need more staff in our stations and have already started to recruit 200 extra staff and is likely to increase further.

"We encourage the unions to continue working with us on this process and ‎the only way to resolve this dispute is to keep talking about how to improve our stations."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in