09/01/2017 London News

Welcome to BBC London News with me Riz Lateef.

The Prime Minister's called it "unfair and

Millions of commuters struggled with journeys today as the tube

strike closed all underground stations in central London -

Services won't be fully back to normal until at

Our Transport Correspondent Tom Edwards is at Oxford Circus station,

It doesn't look too promising. Frustrating day for many, Tom. Yes,

this strike finished more than four hours ago but as you can see many

stations in zone one remain shut. This strike has had a considerable

impact. It has been a long day

for London's commuters, and as they headed home tonight,

a weary indignation. It's been a complete,

absolute nightmare today. I should be revising with my

daughter, who's taking her mocks. I'm probably not going to get

in and have at least I'm not quite sure what their

striking about, to be honest. I think us commuters should

have a ticket strike instead. I do have sympathy,

because I imagine they are striking for something, but I think doing it

like five days after everyone gets back to work, they could have timed

it a little bit better. This was a day of long queues,

delays and disruption. This was Waterloo, as commuters

switched to the buses. It is a nightmare, because I'm

going to get to work I know what they're after,

and it seems to be OK, what they want, but it's wrong

affecting people Many didn't know about

the strike, and couldn't get We were here at 5:30am

and I couldn't get on the 29, You've not been here

since five though, have you? No, I've been here

since half past five. I've tried to get on three buses

this morning so far and I haven't been able to get on yet,

it's so busy. At Clapham Junction

the station struggled to cope. At one point overcrowding meant it

had to be evacuated. To be honest, I don't know

why they're striking, but I know it's affected me

because I'm late for work. The roads took the brunt,

with average speeds dropping to two miles an hour in some areas,

as old heritage buses were brought The Thames Clippers

on the river did cope well, It's not our fault,

we're paying money, OK? Why I'm paying money and have

to walk, run, for what? Today was also the start of the exam

season, and for some students the strike couldn't have come

at a worse time. At Kings, the university

says it will offer Most did make it to their exams,

but it wasn't straightforward. Clapham Junction station was closed,

so we ended up getting a one-hour bus to Shepherd's Bush,

and then running from Shepherd's Bush here,

which meant we were just in time for the exam, but it

was quite stressful. I think it was probably more

stressful than the exam itself. And many Londoners

took to social media. At Liverpool Street,

this was the bus queue. It stretched right

around the station. And while many took to two wheels

and cycled, the bike hire scheme This dispute goes back

to 2015 and the closure of all London Underground ticket

offices and the loss of 838 jobs. London Underground now admits more

staff are needed on the tube. The sticking point and the reason

for this strike is, how many? At King's Cross, more

queues for cabs and buses. There were some tube

trains, but not many. What are they striking for,

was it the 24-hour thing still? It's making it very inconvenient

now, but they have to do And tonight the bad news

for commuters is this dispute First let's hear from

both sides involved - including the Mayor,

who during his election campaign said he would roll up his sleeves

to make sure there are zero So does he see today

as a sign of failure? Here's our political

correspondent Karl Mercer. Sadly, not to each other,

but fighting a war of The Mayor and Transport for London

condemning the strikes. Their only common ground they both

claim - a willingness to talk. Yeah, we are absolutely open

to talks at any moment in time. We will get back there

tomorrow, as soon as We have to resolve

these things amicably I would suggest once

we get through this we get Are you discussing

when you will talk them? Are you discussing

when you will talk then? At the moment we have said

that we will do this We have made it clear to Acas

that we are available for talks and we would expect them to be in

contact with Acas in a similar way. Not good news then for Londoners

who battled to work today. I think the strike today is

completely unnecessary and causing Businesses will lose

millions of pounds in to reach their hospital

appointments, the strike could have We have to draw the powers that be,

the Mayor and his senior that we cannot essentially

be pushed away with It's an embarrassment for the Mayor,

who said during his election campaign he'd aim for

zero days of strikes. Much harder to deliver

when you're actually in power. And to put more staff back

in stations to help solve the dispute would mean taking money

from somewhere else. If as a result of this we must

change things within our organisation, to ensure

that we provide that right service at the front line,

those are the decisions that we will make and

that is what we will do. So you are saying there

might be extra money, you might have to move

the budgets around? I don't think there's extra money,

it is about moving the The politics of the strike will be

far from the minds of commuters, but it seems they have also put

the Mayor at odds with his party. Would you like to see the Labour

Party nationally condemn the strike for the damage caused, as you say,

to the economy of London? It is for them to talk about what

they do nationally. All I can talk about is London

and I know that the strike could have been avoided, I know

that the strike is unnecessary. The Labour Mayor has described this

as unnecessary, the strike. Well, look, I was not in the room

when the discussions were But I do know that

there's a legitimate beef when over 800 jobs go

out of the system. Not quite on the same

page it would seem then. The Mayor's immediate focus

though will be on getting Let's go back to Tom

at Oxford Circus. The strike finished

almost five hours ago - There are some services running

tonight but not many. Tfl says the Tube will not get back to normal

until tomorrow, until first thing tomorrow. If we look at the

statistics that Tfl have put out, they say 70% of stations in the end

today were open. But I think it's still really a pretty appalling

service for commuters. And obviously the worrying thing for passengers is

this dispute has still got a long way to go. It's still a long way

from being resolved. Tom, is it fair to say this week will test the

resilience of Londoners? Yes, and I have been struggling to

think of a worse week for commuters. Certainly rail and Tube commuters.

Tomorrow there is a drivers' strike again on Southern Railway is and

also a strike on Wednesday the 11th and Friday the 13th, another

three-day strike later in January. The operator says there will be no

service at all on Southern. It is all pretty grim for commuters, I'm

afraid. Tom, many thanks, transport correspondent, Tom Edwards.

And leave you with Wendy for a look at the weather -

which wasn't too kind to commuters today.

All we needed was a bit of rain. At least while we went about time it

was on the mild side, that is how we start this week. It was 11 degrees,

I know it didn't feel it in the rain. It is becoming windy through

this week and that will turn it much colder. Here is the rain we had

today, it really set in once it got to us and as it shifted through

during this evening's rush hour a line of showers went through quite

heavy in some clear sky above. We have the moon and stars out and that

is how it will stake through tonight. Just a bit of patchy cloud

and maybe the odd shower. Mostly dry with the breeze picking up which

works in our favour because temperatures will not fall to freeze

and although near enough, three or four and maybe as low as one in some

rural parts. Either way, a chilly start to the day tomorrow for the

next struggle into work. There will be sunshine first thing but the

breeze picks up from a westerly direction and it is from that

direction cloud will arrive later in the day. Probably bringing one or

two outbreaks of rain into the evening rush hour once again but not

so much as today. Temperatures will be down on what we had today at

around 7-9 but the really cold weather starts to dig in and

eventually through Wednesday after this cold front has gone through. We

have north-westerly winds and you can see wintry showers across the

North of England and Scotland. I think Wednesday will start on the

mild side but when the cold front works through and the wind picks up

as well it will feel quite bitter by the end of the day. You will more so

feel that on Thursday and Friday unfortunately. They will be some

sunny crisp weather but any precipitation we get will be of a

wintry nation and precipitation we get will be of a

wintry nation and Thursday is one we have to watch out for. The weekend

outlook, it stays chilly with a northerly wind and possibly frosty

nights. The national weather forecast now.

Wet and windy weather across the western side of Scotland.

Blood-pressure is in charge of the weather, lots of isobars and it