Best links for beating the strike | Q&A | Crow - most unpopular union leader?

Up to a million London commuters were this morning finding alternative ways to work as a two-day strike by the RMT union caused several Tube lines to be suspended.

The strike held only shakily, however, with at least half of London Underground's 20,000 drivers, station and maintenance staff arriving for work.

As a result the Northern Line was able to run as normal, there were minor delays on the Jubilee Line, and there was also a limited service on parts of the District, Victoria, Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines. In total TfL was running 130 trains an hour at the peak of the morning rush hour, compared to the 500 it would normally operate.

The news that some services were running had failed to reach many of the commuters who regularly use them, and trains were emptier than normal.

Transport for London said that the Bakerloo would start operations between Queen's Park and Paddington after 9am, and that it hoped to run a service on the Central and the Hammersmith and City lines later.

“Clearly, support for the RMT leadership’s actions is far from the level they were expecting," said Peter Hendy, the TfL Commissioner.

As anxious ticket-holders for tonight's football international at Wembley between England and Andorra fretted whether Tube lines would be running to take them to the game, Mr Hendy urged travellers to check the TfL website for the latest updates.

Meanwhile recriminations flew as Bob Crow, the RMT leader, accused Transport for London of pulling out of a deal that could have prevented the industrial action, while Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, accused the union of constantly shifting the grounds on which it had called its workers out.

Mr Crow claimed that at 6pm last night, an hour before the walkout began, agreement had been reached at the offices of the Acas conciliation service - only for a phone call from either Mr Johnson or Mr Hendy to call off the deal.

"Acas officials went off to get the document typed up and by the time they came back the underground management had reneged on it," claimed Mr Crow, speaking from a picket line outside Seven Sisters Tube station in north London.

"The whole thing stinks of last-minute sabotage. Johnson needs to stop the political grandstanding and meet direct with the RMT to settle the pay, jobs and bullying issues at the heart of this strike."

Mr Johnson said that he was unaware of such an incident. "That's completely untrue, as far as I know," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mr Hendy also described the claim as “utter nonsense”, adding: “We called on the RMT leadership to attend Acas yesterday, but, despite us making progress on all issues, they decided to strike, rather than continue to talk beyond their own self-imposed deadline."

Acas said that it could not confirm or deny any detail of the meetings between the two sides, as its service was confidential.

Mr Johnson said that the strike was "absolutely crazy", "unnecessary and misery-making", especially when the two sides were so close to a deal.

He accused Mr Crow of chopping and changing the pretexts on which the strike had gone ahead.

The source of the dispute is ostensibly the union's opposition to compulsory redundancies among back-office staff, as Mr Johnson seeks to prune 1,000 jobs from among the 7,000 staff that TfL has inherited from Metronet since the failed part-privatisation of the Tube. Mr Johnson claimed that the RMT had been trying to hold TfL "to exactly what John Prescott may have meant" when he gave guarantees to Metronet staff about job security.

A row over pay has also been cited, and Mr Crow confirmed this morning that the union had put in a claim for a five per cent pay rise this year, based on the rate of inflation last October. Inflation has now fallen below zero. Mr Crow added however that pay negotiations were yesterday taken out of the terms of dispute after the company submitted an improved offer, and that the new offer would now be put to workers.

TfL meanwhile was indignant that on Monday night the RMT demanded the reinstatement of two dismissed drivers as an extra condition for calling off the strike. One was dismissed for opening the doors of a Victoria Line train on the wrong side and then lying to investigators about it. The other is due to go on trial this month for theft.

But Mr Crow claimed that it was not the cases of the two drivers but the "application of disciplinary policy" in general that his members were angry at.

A plethora of extra measures were arranged to help commuters. TfL had laid on 100 extra buses, but as the morning wore on commuters reported waits of up to an hour as bus after bus drove past too full to take on any more passengers.

Mr Johnson boasted that the number of river boats carrying commuters along the Thames had been multiplied by five. He spoke from Embankment station before boarding a packed boat to take him along to his office near Tower Bridge.

In other efforts to alleviate the misery of commuters, Network Rail was accepting Oyster pay-as-you-go on all national rail journeys within Greater London for the duration of the strike.

Taxi drivers were running a fixed fare, shared taxi service between six main rail terminals. Marshalled bike rides had been organised, and temporary cycle racks were being set up in Trafalgar Square, The Mall, Waterloo, London Bridge and Potters Field Park. TfL workers were handing out maps to help commuters find their way to work on foot.

Mr Johnson refused to suspend the £8 Congestion Charge for drivers, however, saying that the last thing the city needed was more gridlock. Many roadworks were suspended.

LU had made an improved pay offer during talks on Friday, tabling a four year deal worth 1.5 per cent in year one and the rate of inflation plus 0.5 per cent in subsequent years. An alternative two year deal offered 1 per cent now and inflation plus 0.5 per cent in year two.

A Tube driver's starting salary is more than £40,000. A station supervisor earns £35,000 to £39,000, and a station assistant can start on £29,000.

Mr Hendy praised the staff who had turned up for work, saying that Londoners appreciated the efforts of everyone trying to keep the City moving. The two day strike, scheduled to end at 7pm tomorrow, is expected to cost business £100 million in lost productivity.

Tube service (at 1pm)

Northern Line: good service

Jubilee: minor delays

District: service between Wimbledon and Mansion House, and Ealing Broadway and High St Kensington

Victoria: between Seven Sisters and Victoria

Metropolitan: between Wembley Park and Baker St

Piccadilly: between Arnos Grove and Cockfosters, and Acton Town and Hammersmith

Bakerloo: between Queen's Park and Elephant & Castle

Central: between Ealing Broadway / West Ruislip and White City, and Epping / Hainault and Liverpool St

Hammersmith & City: between Hammersmith and Baker St

Circle: suspended

Waterloo & City: suspended

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