Tube strike: Union representative caught pretending to be ordinary Tube worker on radio

'Joe' was actually a station supervisor and had represented RMT in discussions with London Underground

An RMT union member wears an official picket arm band outside Paddington Station (AP)

A union spokesperson has been caught masquerading as an ordinary Tube worker during a live radio interview discussing the London Underground strike.

The story of striking Tube worker ‘Joe’ – real name Jared – fell apart on BBC London Radio when confronted by London Underground (LU) boss Nick Brown, who revealed him to be an RMT union representative.

“That was Jared. He works for the RMT and he’s been in a 100 odd meetings with my colleagues down the month,” Mr Brown, managing director of LU, told listeners.

Jared quickly fessed up when confronted by presenter Vanessa Feltz, who had noted earlier that he appeared “enormously well informed”.

“My name is Jared,” he admitted. “I’m a station supervisor and I get released to do Union duties and I have represented station members of staff at some of the negotiations,” he added.

The embarrassing gaffe comes as members from his union and three others – TSSA, Unite and Aslef – down tools and shut down the Underground from 6.30pm on Wednesday. Normal services are expected to resume by Friday morning.

An RMT spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by The Independent.