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London commuters were tonight facing no let up in the Tube strike that has crippled transport in the capital, as talks failed to resume between the RMT union and Transport for London.

Instead the two sides indulged in war by press release, each saying they were willing to continue negotiations while hurling recriminations at the intransigence of the other.

The RMT repeated its claim that agreement had been reached last night on the last sticking point in the dispute, only for TfL to pull back at the last moment.

A union spokesman told The Times that the RMT could call off the strike as early as tonight if the deal could be completed. He also claimed that the union rang the Acas conciliation service this morning and offered to restart talks at once, but had received no reply.

"There doesn't seem to be any Tube managers around now," said the spokesman.

"We are keen to get this resolved soon and if an agreement can be reached we can (stop the strike as early as tonight).

"The deal had been done and they just gone off to type it up when Richard Parry [London Underground's interim managing director] went outside to make a phone call and came back in and said we can't do the deal."

At 3pm Stuart Ross, a TfL spokesman, said that he was unaware of any offer from the RMT to restart talks today.

"We remain ready to meet with the RMT any time, anywhere, and for as long as it takes," he said. "If they're now ready to meet again we welcome that. We were ready to continue talks last night. Unfortunately it was the RMT who decided they didn't want to continue talking."

The union spokesman denied a report that Bob Crow, the RMT leader, had walked out of the meeting at Acas last night saying he had no time for more talking that night because he "had a strike to run".

The last issue to be resolved concerns compulsory redundancies among the 7,000 extra staff that TfL has had to absorb since the failure of the Metronet public-private partnership which had run part of the network. TfL estimates that up to 1,000 back-room staff are no longer needed because their jobs are duplicated.

The RMT spokesman admitted frankly that the union expected workers to be given jobs for life.

"I don't think we dispute that. If you're working somewhere and you want to carry on, and you're capable and doing a good job, why should you be forced out?" he said.

"I don't think we are asking for the moon at all. People ring me up all the time and say: 'You're a bunch of greedy bastards', but my argument is, why should you accept it? We are not prepared to accept that, just because the bankers and the politicians have driven the economy over a cliff, our members have to take a kicking."

The strike did not hold solid across London, and this morning TfL was able to run 130 of the 500 trains it would normally expect to operate each hour during the busiest period.

The Northern Line was almost unaffected, and there were only minor delays on the Jubilee. The Central and the Waterloo & City lines were closed all day however, and only a limited service was in operation on the remaining seven lines. Commuters were urged to check the TfL website for the latest update.

Ticketholders for England's World Cup qualifying match against Andorra at Wembley at 8.15pm were facing enormous difficulties in reaching the ground, as three rail operators - London Midland, Southern and Chiltern - cancelled all services to the stadium because of overcrowding fears caused by the strike.

Only the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines were expected to be stopping at Wembley, and some London overground services.

Talks at Acas have at least succeeded in taking one of the main bones of contention - the RMT's demand for a 5 per cent pay rise this year - out of the negotiations.

LU had made an improved pay offer during talks on Friday, a two year deal offering 1 per cent now and inflation plus 0.5 per cent in year two, which the union has agreed to put to a referendum of its members.

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.

The union's demands for the reinstatement of two dismissed drivers has also been eliminated as a condition for calling off the strike, and will be handled separately. One driver 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.

A package to soften the redundancies among the former Metronet staff, including terms for voluntary redundancy and the offer of retraining, is believed to be very close to agreement.

Tube service (at 4pm)

Northern Line: good service

Jubilee: minor delays

District: Services are operating with severe delays between Wimbledon and High Street Kensington and between Ealing Broadway and Tower Hill.

Victoria: between Seven Sisters and Victoria

Metropolitan: Services are operating with severe delays between Harrow on the Hill/Amersham via fast lines and Baker Street.

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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