The day London stayed at home

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All quiet: Euston at 8.40am

Empty: Trafalgar Square at 8.40am

London's rush hour turned into hush hour today as millions took an extra day off.

The great stayaway turned the festive break into the biggest Christmas holiday ever - but commuters who did brave it into work faced a triple whammy of price rises. Mayor Ken Livingstone-came under fire as he pushed cash fares on Tubes and buses up by a massive 33 per cent.

London's 500,000 rail commuters also faced above-inflation increases.

Traffic watchdogs said London's roads were "deathly quiet". At the usually busy Euston Underpass there was not a vehicle to be seen at what should have been the peak of rush hour at 8.40am. And industry chiefs said it would be next Monday before it was business as usual. Tubes, buses and trains were also empty as millions chose to shun the traditional return to work.

John Dennis, of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "Normally we carry three million passengers on a weekday, but during the period after Christmas that is massively down."

Roads across the south east and London were also empty, according to travel data firm Trafficlink.

"I am amazed at how few cars there are on the roads; even the M25, which is normally extremely busy, is flowing freely, as is the Blackwall Tunnel which is normally very congested," said a spokesman.

"We will certainly not be back to anything like full normal working today," David Frost, British Chambers of Commerce director general said.

Mayor Ken Livingstone came under fire for pushing cash fares on the Tubes and buses.

A one-station journey on the Underground in zone one now costs £4 and a similar journey on a bus goes up to £2.

On average, London's 500,000 mainline rail commuters also face a 4.3 per cent increase, which is above July's inflation rate of three per cent - the date and level set by the Government for calculating fare rises.

Passengers travelling from Reading to Paddington on First Great Western will suffer the biggest rise with the cost of a standard return going up from £25.90 to £28.30. Meanwhile, the misery for Tube commuters continued as Northern line travellers were hit with the prospect of a strike as Aslef balloted its members over the sacking of a driver.

The fact that both Christmas and New Year's Day fell on Mondays has meant many workers have taken the rest of the week off to enjoy a 16-day break with just seven days' leave.

It has also been revealed that today is the most popular day of the year for workers to pull a "sickie".

According to a study of more than 400 organisations by the Confederation of British Industry and AXA Insurance, employees feeling hungover or wanting a longer holiday are more likely to fake illness. It also found in 2005, 66 million days were lost to sickness across public services, costing taxpayers £3 billion.

Nearly 14 per cent were considered not genuine - costing the economy £1.2 billion.

 

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