LU bosses hold talks to stop four-day Tube strike

Urgent talks are taking place today to avert a four-day Tube strike.

The Tube's two largest unions, the RMT and TSSA, have ordered the strike from 6.30pm on Sunday 6 April until the same time on Wednesday 9 April, and up to 7,500 staff - including those in the station and drivers - will walk out.

It has been ordered over a raft of alleged safety issues, including the closure of some ticket offices to save money and the use of agency staff in what the unions say are "safety critical" areas.

But London's business leaders and Tube chiefs have called on the unions to call the strike off.

Peter Bishop, deputy chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, said the strike could cost the capital up to £200 million. "This is a pointless strike that can only result in severely damaging London's economy," he said.

Howard Collins, LU deputy chief operating officer, said: "These issues have nothing whatsoever to do with safety, and not a single job is at risk."

But Bob Crow, the RMT leader, said that while each of the safety issues "is serious in its own right... together they amount to a fundamental and unacceptable attack on staffing across the network, putting our members' and passengers' lives at risk."