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Londoners are facing the all-to-familiar commute from hell as parts of the London Underground are crippled with strike action .

A 24-hour walk-out started on at 9pm on Tuesday (February 21) night affecting Central and Waterloo & City lines.

Further misery was caused after a broken down car caused queues of serious traffic on the A40.

Transport for London say there will no Central line service east of Leytonstone and very limited services on the rest of the line - which cuts through west London.

Buses, roads, rail and other Tube services are expected to be much busier as a result.

TfL warns of the possibility of peak time queues and delays at stations including North Ealing, Ealing Common and Oxford Circus, and will put on a special bus shuttle service will call at Epping, Debden, Loughton and Chingford, for connections to London Overground services.

The Central line begins in west London at Ealing Broadway, and runs through Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster before moving on to the east of the capital.

There will be no service on the Waterloo & City line.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union announced it will be walking out on the London Underground after claiming Central line train operators were “displaced” by Transport for London (TfL).

The union’s members will be joined by those of the Aslef trade union.

The dispute is over the transfer of eight drivers from the depot in Leytonstone to Earl’s Court.

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Time to wrap up the blog

Now seems a good time to shut down this evening’s tube strike blog.

We hope you all made it home safely as we’re about to try and navigate our way across the capital ourselves.

Check in tomorrow for the latest on Storm Doris and any disruptions to rail and road.

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Metropolitan line delays

Metropolitan Line: Severe delays between Baker Street and Aldgate due to an earlier security alert at Moorgate. GOOD SERVICE on the rest of the line.

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Severe delays on four lines

There are sever delays on four London Underground lines, with others hit by minor delays and closures.

The Central line is suspended between Leytonstone and Epping/Woodford via Newbury Park because of strike action.

Severe delays to the rest of the line.

The Circle, Hammersmith and City, and Metropolitan also seeing severe delays.

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Gaps between services in central London

Services in central London have been reduced to every 10 or 15 minutes.

TfL are recommending commuters use other lines where possible.

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Latest on the Central line

Here is the latest from TfL on the Central line.

There are severe delays to White City and Ealing Broadway/West Ruislip as commuters begin to make their journeys home this evening.

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A reminder that the strike is impacting other public transport services

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Even though its only lunchtime, thoughts are turning towards the evening rush hour

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Anyone noticed anything different?!

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Lib Dems criticise strikes

Jenny Randerson, Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson, said about the industrial action:

Today’s walk-outs by London Underground and Southern Rail staff will hit commuters hard in the next 24 hours.

“They don’t deserve this continued disruption.

“Whilst we respect the rights of individuals and unions to strike, this punishes those that deserve it the least, those paying thousands in fares and receiving nothing in return.”

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Morning recap

With the morning rush hour but a distant memory (nightmare) here’s your chance to recap on what happened earlier today, with Tube strikes, rail walk-outs and traffic all hitting commuters.

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Mobile office to the rescue

Car hire service HiyaCar helped out commuters with a mobile office outside stations including Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park.

Providing them with wi-fi, hot tea and coffee, and a place to warm up, Londoners were able to get some work done while they waited for the queues to die down.

HiyaCar enables Londoners with cars who aren’t using them, to share them with those who don’t have one.

Peer-to-peer car hire service HiyaCar kept London on the go with their mobile office outside stations, including Ladbroke Grove
Peer-to-peer car hire service HiyaCar kept London on the go with their mobile office outside stations, including Ladbroke Grove
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Spare a thought

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Crowds outside station

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And someone's angry at the 'management bullies'

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Someone's angry with the unions and their members...

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And another one

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Time to bring you more tweets from unhappy and disgruntled Tube users

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More from TfL

All of these moves are within the long-standing agreements we have made with the unions. We call on the RMT to honour this long-standing agreement and join us for more talks to resolve this issue.”

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TfL comment

As mentioned already, today’s strike is the result of a dispute between TfL and unions over the relocation of Tube drivers.

Peter McNaught, operations director for the Central line, said:

I apologise to customers for the disruption that this unnecessary strike is causing. We have made all reasonable efforts to resolve this dispute through talking through the issues with the unions, and we have minimised the number of employees affected from over 30 to eight.”

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TfL update

There is no service east of Leytonstone on the Central line and trains are less frequent than usual on the majority of the Central line.

Trains are running:

About every five minutes between North Acton and Leytonstone at peak times (and every 10 minutes off peak)

About every 10 minutes between North Acton and West Ruislip / Ealing Broadway at peak times (and every 20 minutes off peak)

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But things are slowly improving on the A40

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TfL warning

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More misery to report

So we’ve told you about the Tube strike on the Central and Waterloo & City lines.

And you also know about the Southern Rail walk-out.

To complete the commuter misery, I take no pleasure whatsoever in telling you traffic is queuing on A40 into town between Swakeleys Roundabout in Uxbridge and Gypsy Corner in Acton.

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Holborn station alert

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Looking for somewhere to work today?

Collaborative workspace group WeWork is opening its doors to commuters during the tube strike, with sites, including one in Paddington, offering free work space and internet. They hope it will allow commuters to work at a more convenient location. Click here to book your spot.

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Tube strike 'rock solid'

The RMT union says the Tube strike is ‘rock solid’.

The union and Aslef has walked-out in a dispute over the transfer of eight drivers from the depot in Leytonstone to Earl’s Court.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said today (February 22):

RMT negotiators have made strenuous efforts to resolve this dispute but the door has been slammed in our faces. The action is rock solid today with the impact severe and widespread and the blame for that lies firmly at the door of an intransigent LU management that refuses to see sense.”

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There's always one!

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It's not all bad...

If you’re having to work up a sweat to get to work, Fitness First is coming to the rescue of disgruntled commuters by opening its doors free of charge during the Tube strike.

Simply walk, run or cycle to work and show your Oyster Card in your nearest Fitness First club so you can shower off or train in the gym free of charge.

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It's not easy

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