August Tube strike: Industrial action begins ahead of two 24 hour walk-outs across London

Three unions have confirmed that their members will take part in latest strikes

Union industrial action over the implementation of Night Tubes has already hit London commuters, ahead of two planned 24 hour strikes in August.

Commuters on the busy District line were delayed on Wednesday morning due to strikes by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

Transport for London were keen to play down the incident, with a spokesperson telling The Independent the action was “short of a strike” but admitting there was a “knock on effect” for commuters.

But Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, claimed parts of the District line had been suspended on Wednesday morning and promised to escalate the industrial action in the run-up to the next strike.

"Tube bosses have tried to cover up the impact of the action short of a strike which is continuing across the network and which is hitting services hard with the impact set to escalate,” he claimed.

Steve White, Operations Director for London Underground (LU) apologised to customers delayed due to industrial action.

“To minimise the impact on customers we are using qualified and experienced managers and engineers to complete some of the maintenance checks normally carried out by staff involved in the industrial action,” Mr White said in a statement.

The action comes as three unions – TSSA, Unite and RMT – announced two further 24 hour strikes in a week bringing London’s underground travel network to a virtual standstill for four working days. Aslef have not yet announced whether they will take part in the strike, despite their inclusion in the last 24 horu strike earlier this month.

Union leaders have claimed the proposed changes for 12 September will seriously negatively affect their members’ work-life balance.

In a statement the London Mayor’s office claimed that “union leadership appear hell bent on strike action” and claimed they were failing to place a “fair, sensible and generous offer on the table to their members.”

Additional reporting by Press Association