Frustration and fury as commuter disruption spreads into third day

Police supervised crowds as hundreds of people tried to squeeze onto buses in Paddington as the Hammersmith and City Line station had yet to open.

They spilled into the roads, disrupting traffic . One commuter said: "It is miserable. It is pitiful we are forced to put with this."

Peter Frost, 30, travelling to Warren Street from Ealing, gave up on public transport and decided to walk the four mile journey.

He said: "It was shambolic yesterday and it's not much better today. But I think people have been pretty well behaved given the abysmal state of public transport in this country."One of the police officers said they were at bus stops today to avoid a repeat of yesterday.

The officer said: "The scenes here yesterday were atrocious. It might look bad today but it was much worse yesterday. We had people crowding all over the road."

Eric Bertoli, a teacher from Acton, said he had taken three buses instead of his usual single Tube journey to work in Paddington.

"It is so frustrating," he said. "An hour has been added onto my journey this morning for no good reason. My understanding is that the strike has been called off - so why this continuingchaos?" David Browne, a designer from Slough, said: "This is shambolic. It makes you embarrassed to be English. Why do we have to endure such ineptitude?"

Matthew Ericson, a student from Southend, said: "I thought they would have everything up and running as quickly as possible.

"Given the sky-high cost to London of every hour strike, it seems lunacy that they have not got it sorted yet."

There were similar scenes in London last night - but thousands of commuters headed for pubs and bars rather than run the gauntlet of overcrowded buses for the journey home. Bars in Covent Garden, Soho and Victoria were full of workers and shoppers.

Law student Emily Mason, 22, of Beckenham, was drinking in Covent Garden with friends rather than face a repeat of her nightmare morning journey.

She said: "My journey into town took much longer than usual and I ended up getting a taxi because the bus queues were ridiculous. I couldn't face going through all that again so we decided to go for a drink instead."

Legal representative Alistair Mackenzie passed the time with a few pints at The Willow Walk Pub in Victoria.

Mr Mackenzie, 37, of Hackney, was prepared to wait until closing time for buses to empty out. He said: "Every bus was packed and there was no chance of getting on one. It was absolute mayhem."

He added: "I have some sympathy with the striking workers but no one has a completely secure pension these days."