Acetylene cylinder fires cause major disruption

TfL has written to some 70 tenants, such as construction firms and garages telling them to find alternatives to the unstable gas or face eviction.

Acetylene cylinder fires require a 200m exclusion zone lasting at least 24 hours for the cylinders to cool down.

There have been 15 such incidents in 2007 and TfL said the ban will help reduce transport disruption.

London Fire Brigade, which has been campaigning for improved controls over the safe use and storage of these cylinders, welcomed the move.

Network 'reliability'

King's Cross, Deptford and London Bridge stations have all been affected by acetylene-related incidents - disrupting thousands of journeys.

"We need to make sure we run the network as reliably as possible," said Nick Agnew, of TfL.

"Having identified [acetylene] as a major disruption, we obviously had to address that."

Businesses affected by the ban said if used carefully, acetylene was not dangerous.

Garage-owner Barry Ellis said: "In 30 years, I have had no problems with it."