Tube strike: Second day of gridlock on roads

Passengers told of nightmare journeys, some taking nearly three hours just to drive eight miles across central London.

The evening rush hour effectively lasted four hours as people turned to their cars to get to work only to find the roads full of extra buses, taxis and minicabs.

One of the worst affected routes was from east to west as commuters turned to crammed buses or walked because of the suspension of the Central line.

It took Adrian Tiener, 29, a paralegal, almost three hours to get from Liverpool Street to Shepherd's Bush.

He said: "I've had to take three different buses to get home. The worst part was standing there watching four go past without stopping because they were full. I'm absolutely exhausted because I've had to stand nearly all the way. I might as well walk next time. It makes me incredibly angry."

David Olatunde, 31, a political researcher, needed to get from Bank to Kensington for a dinner engagement so left work 90 minutes early, but said he would still struggle to arrive on time.

He said: "Ordinary working people's lives are made a misery. It's not the corporate fat-cats or politicians who are being hurt by the strike. They've got chauffeur driven cars."

Although the Northern line and Jubilee lines were kept running, commuters in other areas were forced on to buses.

The City, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and the Strand were among the most congested areas.

Nick Swaine, 23, a trainee solicitor trying to get from St Paul's to Lewisham, decided to walk to Charing Cross to catch an overground train.

He said: "It's manageable for me. I can walk it to catch a train. Most people have just got on with it either on foot or by bike. It's so hard to get a job right now that I'm surprised anyone thinks they are in a position to strike."

Six out of 10 firms were disrupted by the strike, according to the London Chamber of Commerce survey.

The figures show that the industrial action has been more costly than the last major strikes, in 2007, which affected 54 per cent of firms and cost the capital an estimated £48million a day in lost productivity.

The current strikes could cost London more than £100million if they last the full 48 hours.

Tube bosses said they were running more trains than yesterday with service on eight out of the 11 lines.

Trains ran the full length of the Jubilee and Northern lines - the Northern is the busiest on the network and used by more than 650,000 passengers a day.

Other lines, including the Victoria, District and Central lines, were operating shuttle services between some stations.

At 8am, height of the peak period, a spokesman said: "We are running more trains today than at this time yesterday." There were 140 trains in operation, 20 more than at 8am yesterday.

Richard Parry, interim LU managing director, said: "We're running services on more than half of our lines this morning and I hope that we will be able to add to that throughout the day."

Services today

Northern: Minor delays

Jubilee: Minor delays

Victoria: Victoria to Seven Sisters

District: Wimbledon to Mansion House and Ealing Broadway to High Street Kensington

Metropolitan: Baker Street to Amersham

Piccadilly: Arnos Grove to Cockfosters; and Northfields to Hammersmith stopping only at Turnham Green

Bakerloo: Shuttle service between Elephant & Castle and Queen's Park

Central: Liverpool Street to Epping and Hainault

Hammersmith and City: Baker Street to Hammersmith

Circle: Suspended

Waterloo and City: Suspended

Services as normal with extra buses but delays due to heavy traffic

DLR as normal. But London Overground subject to delays.

Shuttle boats running each hour with extra free service between London Bridge and Tower Bridge.