Both sides claim success in second Tube strike

Large crowds around Waterloo station this morning (Credit: Eloise Smith)

Strike two.

So how was your journey in this morning? And are the RMT union and the TSSA getting their point across?

At King's Cross streams of disgruntled commuters were pounding the pavements -Euston Road was jammed and there were plenty of bikes on the roads.

And all morning both sides - just like last time - the unions and London Underground were claiming they'd succeeded.

Certainly services on many lines were badly affected with many stations - over 90 - shut at one point. At the start of rush hour there were hardly trains at all.

But many people reported better Tube journeys than normal. Of course, transport can be extremely subjective.

Certainly the level of service is comparable with the last Tube strike on September 7th. London Underground last time claimed they ran 40% of services.

This morning they say they were running 30%. The unions dispute even those figures saying they're a "joke".

This time transport bosses have told me they say the service was "more useful".

That means they focused their attentions on services in central London. But it will have left many stations in the suburbs with limited services.

All of this has been overshadowed slightly by the Mayor Boris Johnson and his call to change the law.

What he wants is to make it more difficult for unions to strike by requiring a higher percentage of union members to vote.

For this strike 32.3% of RMT union members voted for strike action, with 35% of TSSA members.

The unions say the rules are the rules and actually the coalition government doesn't have much of a mandate.

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