London's Cycle Hire scheme records 'busiest day'

Central London's Cycle Hire scheme recorded its busiest day on Tuesday, during the 24-hour Tube strike.

Nearly 24,000 journeys were made using the bikes, which Transport for London said was 5,960 more than usual for the hire scheme launched on 30 July.

Tube workers from the Rail, Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association were on strike until 2100 BST on Tuesday.

They are fighting London Underground plans to scrap 800 ticket office jobs.

But LU has insisted all stations would still be staffed and pledged there would be no compulsory redundancies.

"During the strike Londoners took to two wheels in huge numbers," an LU spokeswoman said.

The cycle scheme was so heavily used the docking stations at some of London's mainline stations became empty before 0800 BST.

An LU spokeswoman said vehicles redistributing the bikes to docking stations experienced more traffic on the roads than usual during the strikes, which may have delayed refilling the docking stations.

About 5,000 cycles are available across 335 locations in central London as part of the scheme.

Cyclists have to pay an access fee from £1 a day plus usage time, with the first 30 minutes of cycling free.