Night Tube strikes: London Underground claims meeting union demands would cause fares to increase by 6.5%

RMT leader Mick Cash called the figures ‘scaremongering’

RMT has called the claims 'scaremongering' by London Underground (Getty)

Meeting the demands made by unions over the planned night-Tube will cause commuters to pay an extra 6.5 per cent in fares, London Underground has claimed.

London Underground has issued a statement claiming that the cost of what unions are asking for would cost about £1.4bn to 2023/24, increasing fares by 6.5 per cent or scaling back modernisation plans.

Chief operating officer Steve Griffiths claimed: “Having previously argued that it was all about work-life balance, certain unions have now made a whole series of unaffordable demands for more pay, shorter working hours and the reversal of the modernisation of the Tube.

But Mick Cash, general secretary at Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) claimed the figures from London Underground are simply “scaremongering”.

He said: “These figures are pure scaremongering and have been cobbled together on the back of a fag packet before any agreement has even been reached on pay and reward for the next two years.”

Fresh 24-hour strike action over the new night-Tube service has been announced by three unions for the 25 and 27 of August, but train drivers union Aslef is not expected to take part.

Sources at the union told the Press Association that its members would not participate in the action.

The agency further reports that start of the night-Tube service, expected to begin on 12 September, will now be delayed, according to sources.