Man who stopped London in its tracks

Nine of London Underground's 12 lines will remain closed until Friday morning when it will take hours to restore normal services.

The strike was called by RMT union leader Bob Crow over concerns that jobs and pensions of maintenance workers have been threatened by the collapse of Metronet. He is planning another three-day walkout next week.

Today, after 2,300 RMT members downed tools, commuters were forced into their cars or to queue for buses, walk or cycle to work.

There was no service on the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, Waterloo & City, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and East London lines.

Large sections of the Piccadilly line were also shut as it shares some tracks with the District line.

Only the Northern and Jubilee lines were working normally.

Mr Crow said his members' jobs had been guaranteed only while Metronet was in administration. He added: "We have been seeking simple, unqualified guarantees from Metronet and its administrator that there will be no job losses, forced transfers or pensions cuts, and we have not had them."

However London Mayor Ken Livingstone, writing in today's Evening Standard, claimed "every concern raised with me by the unions has been met". The Mayor's Transport for London organisation has taken temporary control over Metronet.

Two other unions, Unite and TSSA, called off their strikes after receiving assurances and agreeing to further talks.

Tim O'Toole, London Underground's managing director, said he did not know what else he could do.

He said an RMT claim that it had not received the assurances which had resulted in other unions calling of their industrial action was "patently not true".

Angry commuters also condemned the strike.

At King's Cross, where services were cancelled on three lines, Nick Coombes, 48, from Exeter, said: "These people exist in a totally unrealistic world - one which has long since ceased to exist in the commercial workplace in Britain."

At Victoria, property worker Phil Breeden, 42, from Banstead in Surrey, said: "We're living in a grown-up business world and people should realise we can't protect everyone's job for ever.

"I don't think these strikes do the Tube workers any good - they're so frequent now they've lost the public sympathy."

Business leaders warned the strikes would cause huge damage to London and Britain's world standing.

Maurice Fitzpatrick, of accountants Grant Thornton, put the cost to the economy at anything up to £50 million a day.

The walk-out at 6pm last night reduced the network to chaos yesterday.

Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded as stations closed.

A Metronet maintenance worker earns between £25,000 and £30,000 a year. It is mostly night work.