District Line strike: When is it, how long will it last and how to get into work?

Row erupts over job reassignment of newly qualified driver involved in safety incidents

A 24-hour walkout is planned on the London Underground on Thursday (PA Wire/PA Images)

A planned strike on the London Underground (LU) is expected to cause problems on some parts of the network for commuters this week.

A row over the treatment of a driver has sparked plans for a 24-hour walkout on the District line on Friday.

The strike is being coordinated by the train drivers’ union Aslef, which has accused London Underground of ignoring repeated requests for talks.

When is the strike happening?

The strike will begin on Friday 13 April at 0.01am and continue until 11.59pm, meaning trains will be affected from just after midnight on Thursday night and all through Friday.

How will services be affected?

The strike will only affect the District Line, but even if the industrial action does go ahead, Transport for London (TfL) says it hopes to continue running the line at about 60 per cent capacity.

The rest of the tube network, the DLR and overground are all expected to continue operating normally.

TfL has warned there will be delays to journeys on the District Line throughout the day, so customers should allow more time to complete journeys or change to a different line where possible.

All other tube lines will operate as usual. Normal service is expected to resume on the District Line on Saturday morning.

What is the strike about?

The row focuses on a driver who was involved in a number of safety incidents, and was “reassigned” to a job at a station.

The driver had three separate safety incidents in 11 weeks, according to TfL, leading to “a mutual decision for them to return to their previous role on a station.”

“The driver was not disciplined, but agreed to the move which was proposed as part of the safety processes agreed to by our trade unions to ensure the safety of our customers,” the body said.

But Aslef claimed the dispute “centres on London Underground’s failure to follow agreed policies and procedures when a recently qualified driver was involved in a signal passed at danger incident”.

Finn Brennan, the union’s organiser on the Underground, said: “We have repeatedly offered to meet to discuss this dispute but, instead of getting around the table, they have sent a stream of letters threatening legal action to try to prevent our members from exercising their democratic right to strike.

“Aslef members at Acton voted by 98 per cent in favour of strike action. We expect another big ‘Yes’ vote in our ballot of members at Earl’s Court due this week.

“But instead of recognising the concerns of our members and reps, LU management are refusing to acknowledge that they have failed to follow their own procedures, threatened a disciplinary hearing to make a driver “agree” to be redeployed, and now refuse to talk to this union.”

London Underground rejected this version of events. Nigel Holness, its director of network operations, said: “The safety of our customers and our staff is our top priority.

“In this case, a driver was offered an alternative role on our stations following a number of safety incidents in their first few months of driving.

“With so many incidents in a short space of time, despite several weeks of training and assistance, it was simply not safe for this employee to continue in a role as a driver.

“The situation is not as the union has described as no disciplinary action has been taken against the employee and our action is in line with the safety policies agreed with our trade unions.

“I apologise to customers for the disruption this completely unnecessary strike will cause and call on the unions to continue working with us to ensure the safety of our customers and staff.”