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48-Hour London Tube Transit Strike Leaves Millions Stranded

by Rob Walker | June 10, 2009 at 05:25 am

842 views | 20 Recommendations | 5 comments

Millions of people in London have been delayed or had plans cancelled as a tube strike by the London Underground workers led to only a limited number of trains running. The 48-hour strike began on Tuesday evening and will cause problems until Friday morning.

The strike began after last-ditch talks over pay, jobs and disciplinary issues broke down, though hopes had been high for a favorable outcome.

Some train stations were inundated with extra passengers, with hundreds of people queuing on to the street at Clapham Junction in south west London.
Increased levels of traffic on London's roads also led to gridlock in some parts, with buses struggling to stick to normal timetables.

The strike has got off to a good start, with management unable to get services running until well into the morning peak, and then only little token shuttles which are mainly for PR reasons.

Standing outside Walthamstow town hall in north-east London ahead of a public meeting on the 2012 Olympics, the mayor added that Crow and his negotiators were "taking the piss" by bringing the tube network to a standstill over the fate of two sacked drivers.

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martin223

at 10:25 on June 10th, 2009

Great coverage !

CycloneHog (not verified)

at 12:57 on June 10th, 2009

I just heard about the tube strike on Newsy.com. http://www.newsy.com/videos/surfing_to_work

What a nightmare! As a big fan of social media, I love the fact that new communication sources like Twitter are helping our with surviving the daily commute. Are any of you tweeting about it?

Babel-Fish

at 18:17 on June 10th, 2009

I use to walk to work from South Kensington to Vauxhall and use to travel home at night on a bus. I hated traveling on a tube train in the rush hour. Perhaps many people will start walking more and realise the beauty of the parks and the health and fitness value walking can give.

Ronp (not verified)

at 22:51 on June 10th, 2009

This is disgusting, Never in the field of human conflict were so many screwed by so few for such selfish reasons.

If the guys were wrongfully dismissed let them take their complaint to the courts and let the courts decide if the dismissal was within the law. They were, I understand, fired for Gross misconduct, good enough reason for them to lose their jobs. This is why unions lost the support of most people.

Beaulieu

at 05:25 on June 13th, 2009

I cycled so I wasn't affected at all and yes, really enjoyed it, lots of nice weather, got a global warming suntan too. Who wants to be stuck inside a sardine tin on such a nice day? It was really great to see people 'use their legs'. Avoiding a tube strike, is yet another benefit of cycling. Oh and it is Bike Week this week too. The more cyclists the merrier.