Commuters to face Tube travel chaos
Millions of commuters and visitors to London face travel chaos after talks aimed at averting a 48-hour strike by Tube workers broke down.
Thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will now walk out from 7pm on Tuesday until 7pm on Thursday, bringing the network to a standstill.
The announcement was made by the union after marathon, 10-hour talks failed to produce a breakthrough to a bitter dispute over jobs and pay.
London's mayor, Boris Johnson, has put in place a series of contingency plans aimed at helping commuters get to work, including extra buses, taxi-sharing and schemes to lead cyclists across the capital.
But the union predicted travel chaos as a result of the industrial action.
General secretary Bob Crow said the union had made every effort during the talks to reach a deal with London Underground over job losses and a pay deal.
He said: "Not only could the management side not reach an agreement on the kind of deal needed to end this dispute, they also found it difficult to stick to existing agreements on redundancies.
"The strike will now go ahead and we expect it to be solidly supported."
The union balloted up to 10,000 of its members, including drivers, station staff and maintenance workers.
London Underground tabled an improved pay offer during talks last Friday and had urged the union to call off the strike, which will cause huge disruption across the capital.
