London mayor Ken Livingstone has been criticised for failing to attend a meeting discussing his alleged support for striking Tube workers.

The London Assembly called the City Hall meeting to ask the mayor to work towards a solution before the next strike on Tuesday.

But only two thirds of members turned up to the meeting on Friday and the mayor himself said he had not been given enough notice.

Labour group leader Tony Harris and Labour member John Biggs put forward a motion urging Mr Livingstone to stop supporting the action "as a matter of urgency".

This is the moment when the mayor should be offering leadership

Trevor Phillips, GLA chairman

Millions of commuters had to make their way to work on packed buses and gridlocked roads on Wednesday, when a 24-hour strike over pay paralysed the Underground network.

The motion also called on the mayor to use his influence to persuade the RMT and Aslef unions and London Underground management to reach a "swift solution" to the pay dispute.

Trevor Phillips, chair of the London Assembly, told BBC London: "This is the moment when the mayor should be offering leadership.

"He should be speaking to Londoners and the way to do that is through the London Assembly."

In a letter to Mr Phillips, the mayor said he had not endorsed industrial action by Tube workers.

And he was "trying to resolve the dispute through supporting mediation between the parties."