The London Underground is likely to be brought to a standstill from the evening of Tuesday 24 September after workers voted in favour of a 24-hour strike.

The stoppage will start from 2000 BST and run until 2000 BST on Wednesday 25 September.

A second 24-hour stoppage is planned from the evening of 1 October.

The strikes were announced after members of the drivers' union Aslef voted in favour of industrial action by more than 60%.

'Unacceptable offer'

It follows a similar ballot by Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members, who include station staff and signallers.

The Tube workers are protesting about a 3% pay rise announced by London Underground.

They say the company is refusing to take the dispute to arbitration.

Aslef general secretary Mick Rix said: "London Underground managers have attempted to impose an unacceptable pay offer on our members without regard to the proper conduct of industrial relations."

Arbitration

The RMT's Bob Crow told BBC London that London Underground managers could still resolve the dispute.

" If they want to resolve it, they either resolve it this afternoon or between now and next Sunday.

"They've got a way forward, that is to abide by their negotiating process, take this matter to arbitration and the matter can be resolved."

London Underground says it had made a good pay offer that would take the salary of a Tube driver to about �31,000.

Bob Mason from London Underground said: "I've offered Bob Crow, and indeed Aslef, the opportunity to talk about several of the issues that they have and I'm waiting to hear back from them about that.

"We've been to the Arbitration and Conciliation Service on three separate occasions. How often do you have to go to a third party to try and help mediate in a dispute?"

Tube workers walked out earlier in the summer in a separate dispute over safety.