TALKS are to get underway today to try and avert a planned strike on the London Underground next week.

Tube staff currently plan to walk out for 24 hours at 9pm on Tuesday (November 2).

Employment dispute service Acas is to hold the talks between transport bosses and unions the RMT and the TSSA.

If the strike does go ahead it will be the third such action in recent months. Previous last-minute talks to call them off have failed.

Unions claim plans to reduce the opening hours of some ticket offices on the underground network will hit passenger safety and lead to at least 800 job losses.

There are also plans for a reduction of a further 800 posts on the network.

However Transport for London (TfL) says the unions are scaremongering and that there will be no compulsory redundancies.

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