Advice Issued for Piccadilly Line Users Ahead of Strike

---

Drivers set to walk out for 24 hours from 9pm on Wednesday

Transport for London (TfL) is offering travel advice for passengers ahead of the Piccadilly line strike threatened by tube unions from the evening of Wednesday March 23.

TfL says If the strike goes ahead, there will be no Piccadilly line service from late evening on Wednesday and all day on Thursday.

Services on other Tube lines will continue to run as normal, but will be busier than usual.

Drivers on the Piccadilly line who are Tube union members are currently planning to strike from 9pm on Wednesday for 24 hours. However London Underground says it will be able to keep Piccadilly line services running until around 10.30om, so customers are advised to complete journeys on the Piccadilly line by 10.30pm on Wednesday and to travel earlier if possible.

If the strike goes ahead, there will be no Piccadilly line service from late evening on Wednesday and all day on Thursday March 24.

The Piccadilly line is then expected to run a Saturday service on Friday March 25 as part of the Easter Bank Holiday arrangements, although customers are advised to check before they travel.

For customers travelling between Heathrow airport and Central London, Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express services will be available to and from London Paddington station.

Interchange stations along the Piccadilly line – Finsbury Park, Green Park and King’s Cross St. Pancras stations in particular – will be much busier than usual. Services on other Tube and Rail lines, the bus network and river will run as normal but are expected to be busy as passengers seek alternative routes. Roads in west and central London are also expected to be busy

Extra buses will be provided. Buses do not accept cash, so passengers will need to use their contactless debit or credit card, Oyster or bus & tram pass to continue their journeys. You are advised to allow more time for their journeys.

Pat Hansberry, Operations Director for London Underground, said: "Our customers are advised to check our real-time travel tools for the latest information, in the event that the Piccadilly line strike goes ahead this week. We urge the union leaderships to work with us constructively to resolve these local issues, so that Londoners aren’t subjected to pointless disruption."

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said, "The hostile and aggressive attitude by tube bosses has collapsed the normal negotiating process and the strike action goes ahead exactly as planned.

“The wholesale abuse of procedures and agreements by management on the Piccadilly Line is rife and amounts to the development of a campaign of bullying, harassment and intimidation that the union will not allow to continue. RMT will not sit back and allow individual members to be picked off by a vindictive and aggressive management who are continuing to drag their heels over addressing fundamental safety issues which leave staff in a vulnerable and exposed position."

Passengers are advised to allow more time for their journeys and check before they travel at TfL Tube Strike and by following @TfLTravelAlerts, @TfLTrafficNews and @TfLBusAlerts on Twitter.

 

March 22, 2016