A 24-HOUR strike on the London Underground begins this evening.
Maintenance staff on the Tube network will down tools at 5pm, while all other workers - including drivers - will stage a walk-out at 9pm.
The industrial action is expected to cause widespread disruption tonight and throughout Tuesday.
The action has been called by unions the RMT and TSSA following a row over plans to reduce the opening hours of some ticket offices on the underground network, which they claim will impact on passenger safety and lead to 800 job losses.
However Transport for London (TfL) say that is scaremongering and that there will be no compulsory redundancies.
TfL have pledged to run extra buses and will try and keep some stations open - although further details of this are unclear at this stage.
TfL has advised travellers to check website tfl.gov.uk for updates and further information on the travel situation in London over the next few days.
Similar action is also scheduled for Sunday October 3, Tuesday November 2, and Sunday November 28.
An estimated 10,000 staff will be taking part in the strike.
UPDATE (2PM):
Tube bosses have made a last minute plea to unions to call off their planned strike action.
London Underground (LU) says it is ready to talk "at any time" to try and resolve the looming disruption.
Howard Collins, London Underground's Chief Operating Officer, said: "Londoners will no doubt find it incredible that, despite being given a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, the RMT and TSSA leaderships are still threatening to strike.
“London Underground needs to change, as we can’t go on with a situation where some ticket offices sell fewer than 10 tickets an hour. But our staffing changes mean that every station that currently has a ticket office will retain one, and that all stations will be staffed at all times.
“The RMT and TSSA leaderships should recognise that we have given them every assurance possible, and should stop threatening disruption and return to talks.”
UPDATE (2.30PM):
The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said the strike could damage business in the capital.
Colin Stanbridge, its chief executive, said: “This strike action could not have come at a worse time with the capital only just beginning to find its feet after a difficult economic slowdown and many returning to work after the summer break.
"Londoners will still struggle in to work, aided by the additional transport laid on by the Mayor, but the capital will not be as productive as normal and our reputation as the world’s leading business centre will suffer.”
“We sincerely hope that this will be the last round of strike action and we urge both sides of the dispute to return to the negotiating table to find a quick resolution.”
UPDATE (2.40PM):
Union the RMT has said LU are drafting in unqualified staff to plug the staff gap caused by today's strike, which it claims will threaten passenger safety.
A RMT spokesman said: "In a circular to staff desperately appealing for volunteers to help try and run some skeleton services LU say that those without the required Operational Licences will still be deployed and that those with lapsed licenses can have them renewed without complying with the normal training and updating programme.
"RMT says that the latest safety breaches go to the very heart of the dispute which is all about London Underground hacking back staffing levels and cutting corners on safety in a dash to slash costs regardless of the implications for the travelling public."
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow added: “There do not appear to be any corners that London Undergound are not prepared to cut in order to bulldoze through their lethal cocktail of job and safety cuts.
"Sending out a few volunteers without the necessary Operational Licences and training to try and run a handful of trains is a disaster waiting to happen.
“Instead of playing fast and loose with safety it is about time that the Mayor and his officials took the issues as the heart of this dispute seriously, removed the threat of these savage cuts from above our members heads and cleared the way for meaningful talks aimed at protecting safety and safe staffing levels.
“The station staff who apprehended a man carrying knives and loaded guns last weekend, along with the staff whose vigilance and skills averted major fire disasters at Euston and Oxford Service recently, are the very personnel whose jobs are on the block. That is what this dispute is all about.”
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