On October 8, London Underground (LU) drivers implemented a 24-hour strike. The strike began at midnight and disrupted hundreds of thousands of Londoners’ commute to work.
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen District Organizer Finn Brennan told the BBC that the strike was over a number of issues, including “unsafe” working practices. “Drivers are continually forced into overtime and unsafe new working practices are pushed through without agreement,” he said. ” It would be a dereliction of our duty as trade unionists if we did not take action and stop our members from being treated like this. ”
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Passengers who were met with overcrowded stations and trains opted to take the bus instead. As of 7:30 in the morning, people were still showing up to some stations with no knowledge of the strike.
Many commuters had to share cabs or risk being late to work by taking the city bus. One passenger who had no knowledge of what the strike was about told reporters that she ended up being two hours late for work.
The Central line station was closed completely at one point, but later began operating a limited service with severe delays.
A “queueing system” had to be put into place to help manage the crowds.
Passengers took to social media to express frustrations with what was happening.
@ShyaamMarcus took to Twitter to say: “What’s worse than the Central Line being on strike? Being on the 123 from Ilford with a million people, and not one single window was opened.”
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Nigel Holness, director of network operations for LU, apologized to commuters for the “unnecessary disruption.” Holness said that recent talks between the workers and the LU over this action had been “positive,” but they were not able to agree completely.
Another strike has been announced and is schedule to take place on November 7. If you are in or near London on this day, you may want to plan for another means of transportation.