Tube cuts will create 'muggers' paradise'

The cuts will include 100 managers, 450 ticket officers and up to 200 other jobs.

London Underground (LU) said it was committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies by not filling vacancies, offering voluntary severance and flexible working and transferring staff to areas of greater customer need.

The company added that no Tube station ticket offices would close and staff would remain to help travellers in the ticket halls and on platforms.

In addition the number of CCTV cameras is set to increase by 2,000 to 14,000 over the next few years.

LU claimed that the cuts were a direct result of the "huge success" of pre-paid Oyster cards, which now account for 80 per cent of Tube journeys and have caused what LU called a "sharp decline" in the use of ticket offices.

It also claimed that passenger-operated machines account for over 3.5 million more sales per month than ticket offices.

But the announcement enraged transport unions which have long suspected that LU has been drawing up plans to cut jobs.

Transport union TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty accused London Mayor Boris Johnson of "betraying" passengers and staff.

"He was elected promising to keep ticket offices fully open and fully staffed.

"He has now broken that promise.

"We shall fight this all the way if any of our members are threatened with compulsory redundancy," he said.

Fellow transport union RMT leader Bob Crow warned that, if the cuts to jobs are bulldozed through by Transport for London, it will turn the Tube into a "muggers' paradise."

He said the union would fight to protect passenger and staff security and would ballot for industrial action in the event of compulsory redundancies.

LU managing director Richard Parry said: "Our customers and staff should be assured that all of our stations will continue to be staffed at all times while trains are operating and all stations with a ticket office will continue to have one."