Battle lines have been drawn in the fight to save London Underground ticket offices after the RMT union voted for strike action yesterday.

The announcement came on the same day as a flash mob of 50 campaigners gathered at Euston station in central London to protest against the closures, which will see hundreds lose their jobs.

Transport union TSSA will also ballot members in the coming weeks to vote on joining the campaign to stop the savage cuts implemented by Mayor Boris Johnson.

RMT members will walk out at noon on February 4 and again from the same time on February 11.

Station staff will stop work from noon on both days, while drivers will not book on for any shifts between the hours of the action.

The move followed a 77 per cent vote in favour of strikes in protest against the closure of all 260 Tube ticket offices and the jobs that go with them.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT members on London Underground have voted by a massive majority for both strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute which is wholly about cash-led cuts plans that would see the axing of nearly 1,000 safety-critical jobs.

"These cuts would hit the vulnerable, the elderly, those with disabilities and women the hardest. De-staffing stations, with supervisors running operations three stops down the line on an iPad, would turn the Tube system into a criminals' paradise."

At the demonstration Roger Lewis, from the Disable People Against Cuts, agreed.

He said: "The cuts will have a devastating affect on disabled travellers. Boris's Paralympic legacy of improving access to the underground for disabled people will be destroyed.

"Knowing there might not be a member of staff for two or three stations will seriously disrupt confidence in travelling again."

And Youth Fight for Jobs activist Helen Pattison also had a word to say about Mr Johnson.

She said: "Boris Johnson is a liar. They're putting fares up but cutting jobs. It just doesn't make sense."

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes blamed his union's strike ballot on the "reckless" behaviour of Mr Johnson, who he said was refusing to meet the unions over their genuine fears for safety and security.

He said: "It was the mayor who came into office in 2008 with a firm pledge to keep open every ticket office on the grounds of keeping passengers safe and secure at all times.

"Now he wants to scrap the lot, claiming there will be no problems because he will keep staff on station platforms - those that keep their jobs, that is."

London Underground said every Tube station would be visibly staffed and that any operational changes will be done without compulsory redundancies.