London commuters are today encountering ‘pure carnage’ as striking Tube drivers on £72,000-a-year brought the capital to a halt as they demand higher wages, a four-day week and discounts on train journeys.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union have started their five-day strike, leaving commuters facing days of travel mayhem with little or no service on all of the Tube as different parts of the union walk out on other days.
Hard-pressed Brits encountered scenes of disorder this morning as the London Underground network was paralysed, bus drivers turned away passengers, and motorists and cyclists faced crippling lane closures.
The Elizabeth Line and the Overground, the only two lines running as normal, have been completely overwhelmed, with queues forming outside the station exits.
Images throughout London this morning reveal closed-off entrances to stations and mammoth queues at bus stops as millions of British workers look to fight tooth and nail to make their way into the city.
Lane closures have intensified the strike, trapping commuters in traffic in several areas of central London, notably the streets surrounding King’s Cross St Pancras, the location of the RMT’s official picket line.
Many were also unable to order Ubers – or encountered inflated fares – while hire bikes were snapped up in seconds. Adding to the misery and confusion, TfL’s website crashed due to the high demand of commuters searching for alternative routes.
As hard-working Londoners were unable to get across the capital, Labour’s Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said she stood in ‘solidarity’ with the RMT, adding: ‘No worker should be put at risk by fatigue & extreme shift rotations – power in a union, always!’
Striking Tube workers are demanding an increase to their pay packets despite already being on £72,000 per year – as well as a reduction from a 35-hour working week to a four-day, 32-hour system.
They are also asking for a 75 per cent discount on all rail travel, despite already receiving benefits which entitle their loved ones to free travel across the whole London public transport system.
It is believed any moves to meet the RMT’s demands would cost around £200million – and that is before the huge discount on rail travel is even considered.
TfL, which has since tabled a 3.4 per cent pay rise offer to the union’s members, said reducing working hours would be ‘simply unaffordable’ – adding today that they were ‘bitterly disappointed’ with the RMT’s decision.
Some passengers who have been able to board the few available Tubes have described being stuck in a closed station when they attempted to get off.
Due to impassable exit barriers and a lack of staff, TfL was compelled to issue an apology to passengers on the Central Line at Debden.
They say this was due to the station opening later than usual and that passengers could exit after around 10 minutes when staff arrived.
Critics have called Sadiq Khan’s position into question, pondering why there has been ‘no sign or sound’ from the Mayor of London as British workers face disarray. Many fumed that London had been ‘held to ransom’.
Keith Prince, City Hall Conservatives transport spokesman, said: ‘Where is Sadiq Khan? While millions of Londoners suffer through transport chaos, our Mayor has gone missing in action.
‘He can find time to comment on arms fairs and international issues, but when it comes to the transport strikes bringing misery to his own city, Khan is nowhere to be seen.
‘This is a complete abdication of duty. The Mayor’s deafening silence while London grinds to a halt shows he has completely lost control of the situation.
‘If Khan can’t even be bothered to speak up during the worst transport crisis in years, what exactly is he doing as Mayor? Londoners deserve leadership, not empty silence from City Hall.
‘Khan’s refusal to engage publicly with this crisis, despite his willingness to grandstand on other issues, shows his priorities are completely wrong. He should be leading from the front, not hiding away while the city he’s supposed to serve grinds to a halt.’
The walkouts were launched yesterday, with a little service still operating, but today’s full-scale strike is the first time the underground grid has been completely closed since March 2023.
TfL said it was ‘bitterly disappointed’ that the RMT has gone ahead with their action ‘despite our fair, affordable pay offer’.
They added: ‘We have been clear that their demand for a reduction in the working week is unaffordable and impractical, and we urge them to put our offer to their members.’
The transport body added that they will ‘ensure our website and real-time travel tools’ are updated to assist the public in their journeys – but thousands reported that TfL’s site dramatically crashed this morning.
While it seems to be operating now, social media users criticised the receipt of a message which read: ‘Sorry for the inconvenience. We’re working hard to return our website to normal…’
Commuters had hoped a similar aversion would be deployed to that of last January, when Mr Khan used £30 million of Greater London Authority funds to stop Tube workers from striking.
But with no solution in sight and a week of disruption ahead, numerous Britons have taken to social media to tell of their anger as they called the Mayor of London’s role into question.
One posted to X this morning that they had forgotten ‘all about the tube strikes’, adding: ‘Pure carnage on the roads until Friday.’
Another wrote: ‘Another bloody tube strike in London, TfL. Absolute nightmare.’
A third added: ‘No sign or sound from Mayor Khan about this tube strike. Absent from the airwaves – as always when there’s trouble.’
Conservative MP for Bexley and Sidcup, Louie French, said the Mayor was ‘missing in action’ in a post on X.
He wrote: ‘Millions of Londoners will be impacted by this week’s strike action. Labour’s union paymasters want more pay for less work for tube drivers already earning £65k plus.
‘It’s the Labour way and Sadiq Khan is missing in action yet again, despite promising zero strikes.’
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘Nobody wants to see strike action or disruption for Londoners.
‘Strikes have a serious impact on London’s businesses and commuters. The Mayor continues to urge the RMT and TfL to get around the table to resolve this matter and get the network reopened.’
However, Paul Nowak, the head of the Trades Union Congress, has supported the walkout.
The union’s general secretary told Times Radio: ‘I think it is reasonable for them to exercise their democratic right to take strike action. I think there’s a whole set of issues in that dispute, including work intensification and problems and issues about people working overtime because of a shortage of staff.’
He added: ‘I think it’s really important that TfL and the employers sit around the table with the RMT and reach a fair settlement that satisfies their staff and also gets the tubes running again.’
Mr Nowak admitted that while people will ‘find tube strikes frustrating’, but added: ‘At the end of the day, people lose pay when they take industrial action. But no, I’m not going to castigate people, whether they earn £72,000 a year or not. And not everybody is on that level of salary.
‘But this is a job where health and safety is critical, where people work really difficult shifts in difficult working conditions. I think they’re right to be able to take their concerns to their employer and support them absolutely being able to do that.’
An RMT spokesperson said they ‘are not going on strike to disrupt small businesses or the public’.
They added: ‘This strike is going ahead because of the intransigent approach of TfL management and their refusal to even consider a small reduction in the working week in order to help reduce fatigue and the ill-health effects of long-term shift work on our members.
‘We believe a shorter working week is fair and affordable, particularly when you consider TfL has a surplus of £166 million last year and a £10 billion annual operating budget.’
Muniya Barua, Deputy Chief Executive at BusinessLDN, said the strikes would hit small businesses dramatically as she urged both the RMT and TfL to come to an ‘urgent’ agreement.
She said: ‘This is hugely frustrating for Londoners that rely on the Tube to get around the city. It will hit firms that rely on footfall especially hard, particularly those in hospitality, retail and the cultural sector.
‘At a time when the economy is weak and firms are already reeling from a National Insurance hike, the economic cost of these strikes could run into hundreds of millions of pounds. It also sends a really poor message to visitors and investors.
‘We urge both sides to reach an agreement urgently and put an end to these damaging strikes.’
The economy has already been impacted by the walkouts, as seen by Coldplay and Post Malone postponing their scheduled performances at Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Coldplay said in a statement: ‘We’re sorry to announce that, due to planned industrial action on the London Underground, we’ve been forced to reschedule our final two concerts of the current Wembley Stadium run.
‘Without a Tube service, it’s impossible to get 82,000 people to the concert and home again safely, and therefore no event licence can be granted for the nights of 7th and 8th September.’
It has been calculated that the entire cost to the economy over the coming week could reach hundreds of millions.
Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, said: ‘Since 2022, rail and tube strikes have cost the UK’s night time economy billions in lost revenue, with forecasts indicating a further £150 million could be lost during this week’s strike period alone.
‘This devastating projection comes at a point when the sector is relying heavily on consistent week-to-week trade to stay afloat.’
As Underground stations across the city lie desolate, workers will pack onto buses, the Elizabeth Line, the London Overground and trams – with roads also predicted to be far busier than normal.
Travel expert Nicky Kelvin, editor-at-large at The Points Guy, told the Daily Mail: ‘For those commuters who are unable to avoid travelling during the strike days, I strongly advise exploring alternative transport options such as buses or even Lime bikes.
‘Commuters should also factor in potential ripple effects on the London Overground, as connecting stations will likely experience increased pressure. It’s a given that all remaining transport modes will face heightened demand, especially through morning and evening rush hours.’
Mr Kelvin added that it was important to ‘monitor real-time travel updates’ as well as on-the-ground reports from social media.
Docklands Light Railway (DLR) services, which operate through east and southeast London, will also be stopped completely on Tuesday and Thursday over a different dispute.
TfL has announced that alternative means of transportation look set to be ‘extremely busy’ as commuters attempt to find a way into the city.
The expectation is that they will be so packed that certain routes may not even be able to stop at stations that are shared with the London Underground.
Announcing the strikes last month, RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said workers were ‘not after a ‘King’s ransom’.
He said: ‘Our members are doing a fantastic job to keep our capital moving and work strenuous shift patterns to make sure Londoners get to their destinations around the clock.
‘They are not after a King’s ransom, but fatigue and extreme shift rotations are serious issues impacting on our members’ health and wellbeing- all of which have not been adequately addressed for years by LU management.
‘Coupled with the fact there are outstanding issues around staff travel arrangements, an atmosphere of distrust has been created, where our members feel like no one is listening to them.
‘RMT will continue to engage LU management with a view to seeking a revised offer in order to reach a negotiated settlement.’
With bus strikes imminent just after the London Underground resumes full service, commuters in the city may experience even more suffering.
If planned action goes ahead, services run by First Bus will strike in west, northwest and southwest London from 5 am on Friday, September 12, to Monday, September 15.
Should the Tube network not be operating again by this time, workers face an almighty task to make it into the heart of the city from those areas.
People, it’s all intentional! In an attempt to tax us more money and declare it a STRIKE, Sadiq Khan has vanished from the scene, and the economy is in a deep hole.
Anyone who gets money through extortion, which is what it is, is not protecting their workers; they are exploiting them.
We have been given the appearance of freedom, yet as humans, we are all slaves. However, human beings, like all other living things, desire to control and take use of the resources in their environment.
We have become controllable, but we are also so valuable in a way no other resource could ever be.
Human farming, the most lucrative and destructive activity in history, is being carried out by us humans and is currently reaching its destructive apex.
Governments don’t give us certain freedoms because they care about us or our freedoms, but because they want to boost their profits, and this is the cage that we were born into.
Unions were brought in because they knew that they would ultimately turn citizens against each other.
If human beings believe that they are free, then they will produce much more for their masters, and the best way to maintain that illusion of freedom is to put people (unions) on the payroll, and those people who become dependent on the existing hierarchy will then attack any other person who points out the violence, hypocrisy and immorality of human ownership.
The plague of slave owners is the Unions, and now their leaders have become pure evil.
Basically, they want money for nothing – reducing hours, increasing money, where does it stop? I used to have respect for unions when it was about health and safety, and working conditions, but now it’s always about money.
Everybody with a union to support them will be at it now because they know there’s a fairly small window to fleece the government.