Tube strike caused by dispute over two sacked men

Transport for London described it as "a slap in the face" to millions of commuters. Boris Johnson described the RMT union leadership as "demented".

The network started shutting down for 48 hours from 7pm but the knock-on disruption could last three days at a cost to London of £100million.

An agreement with the RMT to call off the strike over pay and job cuts was about to be reached last night until the shock demand to give the men their jobs back.

One driver, Carl Campbell, was sacked for opening the doors on the wrong side of the train at a Victoria line station, then lying about carrying out safety checks.

The other, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is due to go on trial later this month for theft.

RMT chief Bob Crow was today attending talks with London Underground bosses at the arbitration service Acas.

All the RMT's 10,000 members were expected to walk out and not return to work until 7pm on Thursday evening, with other workers likely to refuse to cross picket lines.

Commuters were being advised to complete their journeys by 7pm this evening when the service will start to run down.

England's World Cup qualifier at Wembley tomorrow could be hit because the stadium is served by three Tube stations.

The dispute over the two drivers had led to two days of strike action which brought the Victoria line to a halt. But it had never been raised in talks until last night.

A Tube source said: "We thought we could do a deal over pay and job security and that we were actually getting somewhere. Then, out of the blue, the RMT came up with the reinstatement demand. There is no way we could agree to that."

Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy said: "I am bitterly disappointed. But we cannot deal with individual disciplinary cases under the threat of strike action.

"We utterly condemn the RMT's outrageous decision to continue to call for strike action, despite us providing assurances that we are doing everything possible to avoid compulsory redundancies and putting forward an improved two-year, above inflation, pay offer.

"However, the RMT's leadership has shown that yet again, no matter how fair an offer is made, they would rather strike than talk. Their attitude is a slap in the face to all hard-working Londoners and businesses struggling to get through a recession."

New Transport Secretary Lord Adonis joined the condemnation. "I hope we are not going to have more disruption of this kind," he said. "It causes huge inconvenience to the travelling public and destroys confidence in the public transport system."

With 10,000 staff eligible to vote, 2,810 supported strike action with 488 against. The remainder did not vote.